Office of the Historian

[Untitled]

Legation of Belgium,
Washington, March 14, 1905.

memorandum.

The conference on maritime law which has just met at Brussels has adjourned after having signed a protocol, the terms of which the delegates have agreed to submit to the examination of their governments concerning two projects of conventions on collisions and salvage.

This protocol was signed by the delegates of Belgium, the Kongo, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, Roumania, Russia, and Sweden.

The delegates of the United States did not consider themselves authorized to sign this protocol.

The various States represented, and the Government of Belgium in particular, would be greatly pleased if the minister of the United States at Brussels were authorized to sign this protocol.

It will be noticed that this protocol does not imply any engagement. It provides only for the submission of the projects to the examination of the governments.

[Inclosure.]

International Conference on Maritime Law.

protocol.

The undersigned delegates, convinced of the great advantages which from every point of view would result from a uniform law on maritime collisions and assistance, and certifying to the favorable dispositions shown in the premises by all the members of the conference during the course of its labors, unanimously agree:

1.
To submit to their respective governments, with a view to examination, the annexed projectsa prepared by the conference.
2.
To suspend the deliberations of the conference and to adjourn them to a date to be proposed by the Belgian Government.

Done at Brussels, February 25, 1905.

(The signatures follow.)
  1. Not printed.↩