Peace congress

The genesis of the idea of a meeting of representatives of different nations to obtain by peaceful arbitration a settlement of differences has been traced back as far as 1623 in modern history, to a French monk, Émeric Crucé, who wrote a work entitled "The New Cyneas", a discourse showing the opportunities and the means for establishing a general peace and liberty of conscience to all the world and addressed to the monarch and the sovereign princes of the time.

[5][6] The forerunner of the League of Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), was formed by peace activists William Randal Cremer and Frédéric Passy in 1889.

One of its declared objects was "to promote the peace and union of American nations and establish amicable methods for the settlement of disputes between them".

In 1831, however, Mexico took up the subject and proposed a conference of American Republics "for the purpose of bringing about not only a union and close alliance for defence, but also the acceptance of friendly mediation for the settlement of disputes between them, and the framing and promulgation of a code of penal laws to regulate their mutual relations".

It does not appear that anything came of this congress, and in 1847 another was held at Lima, attended by representatives of Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, New Granada, and Peru, for the purpose of forming an alliance of American republics.

An effort to hold a congress was made by the governments of Chile and Colombia in 1880, "to the end that the settlement by arbitration of each and every international controversy should become a principle of American public law".

This meeting did not take place owing to a variety of reasons, but subsequently, by virtue of an Act of Congress of the United States an invitation was issued by the president to Mexico, the Central and South American Republics, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Brazil to join in a conference to be held in the city of Washington, the project being to consider: The First International Conference of American States assembled at Washington on 2 October 1889.

The conference adopted a plan of arbitration of international differences, together with various recommendations relating to trade, law, extradition, patents, customs, and sanitary regulations.

The congress adopted resolutions urging limitation of armaments and the placing of a ban upon foreign loans for war purposes.

During the summer of 1900 the conference assembled at The Hague and on 4 September the formal notification of the ratification of the convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes was given by the United States, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Persia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands, and subsequently by Japan.

The South and Central American republics were not represented at the conference, but at the second International Conference of American States which was initiated by President McKinley and held in the City of Mexico, 22 October 1901, to 31 January 1902, a plan was adopted looking to adhesion to The Hague convention, the protocol being signed by all of the delegations except Chile and Ecuador, who subsequently gave their adhesion.

The conference authorized the Governments of the United States and Mexico to negotiate with the other signatory powers for the adherence of other American nations.