Hague Conference declarations

At the First Hague Peace Conference in 1899, Article 23(a) banned the use of poisons or poisoned arms and was ratified by the United States. A separate declaration banning asphyxiating gasses in shells was rejected by the United States even though the major European powers all signed it (Taylor and Taylor, 1985). 

Unlike tlie privateers tliat liad existed prior to the Declaration of Paris, these merchant cruisers were to be commissioned as naval vessels throughout the period of their engagement and manned by service personnel. It was this distinction from the earlier )rivately owned md crew ed vessels that permitted Britain to implement these conversions. The anomaly - for anomaly it w as - surfaced in the later Hague Peace Conference when the use of vessels of this type was finally regulated. 

The USA s refusal to adhere to the 1899 Hague Declaration meant that unanimity at the conference, a requirement of UK agreement, was impossible, and the UK did not so agree. In 1907, the UK did adhere to the declaration and became bound by it. France agreed with the 1899 Hague declaration, as did Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. 

February 1922. The Harding administration had several objectives in sponsoring the conference, principally naval disarmament, a disengagement of Britain from her pre-war alliance with Japan, and the resolution of outstanding Sino-Japanese disputes. Gas warfare was a comparatively minor issue, but the Harding administration still sought another international prohibition of poison gas to reaffirm international law, improve upon the Hague Declaration, and produce a statement which the American Senate could ratify (since it had failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles). 

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