State Department, 4th May, 1898, modus vivendi, ambulance ship Solace, General Order No. 487.

Noted, and respectfully returned to Department. As the ambulance ship Solace has been fitted and equipped under the terms of the Geneva Convention, it is earnestly requested that the Department recommend the recognition and carrying into execution as a modus vivendi during the duration of hostilities the additional articles referred to.

The Solace is the first government vessel of any nation fitted and equipped under these terms, and it is due to the United States that her status should receive international recognition.

[No. 6.]

W. K. VAN REYPEN, Surgeon-General, U. S. N.

General Order No. 487.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, April 27, 1898.

The Solace having been fitted and equipped by the Department as an ambulance ship for the naval service under the terms of the Geneva Convention is about to be assigned to service.

The Geneva Cross flag will be carried at the fore whenever the national flag is flown.

The neutrality of the vessel will, under no circumstances, be changed, nor will any changes be made in her equipment without the authority of the Secretary of the Navy.

No guns, ammunition, or articles contraband of war, except coal or stores necessary for the movement of the vessel, shall be placed on board; nor shall the vessel be used as a transport for the carrying of despatches, or officers or men not sick or disabled, other than those belonging to the medical department.

Information as to the special work for which the Solace is intended will be communicated to the commander in chief of the squadron by the Department.

[No. 7.]

JOHN D. LONG,

Secretary.

The Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 9, 1898. SIR: Upon receiving your note of the 4th instant, in reply to mine of the 25th of April, concerning the proposition of the Government of the Swiss Confederation that the United States and Spain adopt as a modus vivendi, pending the entire duration of the war, the ar

ticles of October 20, 1868, additional to those of the convention of Geneva of August 22, 1864, I communicated all the papers in the case to the Secretary of the Navy, calling his attention to the form of the modus vivendi adopted during the Franco-German war, which your Government was pleased to suggest as a precedent to be followed during the existing war. The printed paper you enclose, besides giving the text of the original additional articles of October 20, 1868, contains the correspondence had in 1868 and 1869 concerning the interpretation of Articles IX and X of the said additional convention, and thus establishes the precise nature of the understanding to which France and the North German States respectively acceded. As so expressed, the Government of the United States finds no difficulty in acceding to the suggestion of the Government of Switzerland. It had, in fact, anticipated it, so far as concerns its own conduct of hostilities and its own purpose to observe the humane dictates of modern civilization in the prosecution of warfare upon the sea as well as upon land by fitting out and equipping a special ambulance ship, the Solace, in conformity with the terms of the additional convention aforesaid, thus confirming emphatically its adhesion to the principles of that beneficent arrangement without regard to the absence of its formal ratification by the various signatories.

I am happy, therefore, to advise you, and through you the Government of the Swiss Confederation, that the Government of the United States will for its part, and so long as the present war between this country and Spain shall last, treat as an effective modus vivendi the fourteen additional articles of October 20, 1868, with the interpretations of the ninth and tenth articles thereof appearing in the publication you communicate to me. While it is proper to adopt this course on its own account, and without reference to such action as Spain may take, this Government would nevertheless be glad to hear that the representations made by your Government to that of Spain had met with a favorable response in order that the two parties to the present contest may stand pledged to the same humane and enlightened conduct of naval operations as respects the sick and wounded as was recognized and adopted by the respective parties to the FrancoPrussian war.

Should the Government of Spain likewise accede to the Swiss proposition, I should be much gratified to be apprised of the fact, and also that the Spanish accession contemplates acceptance of the interpretations of Articles IX and X which were adopted by France and the North German States and which are embraced in the proposition of your Government.

Accept, etc.,

WILLIAM R. DAY.

[No. 8.]

The Swiss Minister to the Secretary of State.

[Translation.]

SWISS LEGATION IN THE UNITED STATES,
Washington, D. C., May 9, 1898.

Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: As I had the honor verbally to inform the Assistant Secretary of State this morning, my Government has charged me to bring to the knowledge of Your Excellency that the

Spanish Government has accepted the proposition of the Federal Council concerning the additional articles of the Geneva Convention.

I doubt not that Your Excellency will be pleased very soon to enable me to announce to the Federal Council that the Government of the Union also adheres for its part to the proposed modus vivendi, and in this expectation I offer to Your Excellency the expression of my very high consideration.

J. B. PIODA.

[No. 9.]

The Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, May 10, 1898. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of May 9, formally notifying me that the Spanish Government has accepted the proposition of the Federal Council concerning the additional articles of the Geneva Convention, and expressing the hope that you would soon be enabled to inform your Government that the United States Government adheres for its part to the proposed modus vivendi.

As you were advised in the verbal interview with the Second Assistant Secretary of State, to which you refer in your note of the 9th, I have already had the pleasure of informing you, by my official note of that date that the United States Government would for its part treat as an effective modus vivendi the additional articles of 1868, with the amendments and interpretations of Articles IX and X thereof appearing in the publication communicated to me by you. I trust that that note, which apparently had not reached your hands at the time of your note to me of the same date, has now been received by you and its contents transmitted to the Federal Council. Be pleased to accept, etc.,

EXHIBIT B.

[No. 10.]

WILLIAM R. DAY.

Additional Articles of October 20, 1868, VI to XV.

ARTICLES CONCERNING THE MARINE.

ART. VI. The boats which, at their own risk and peril, during and after an engagement pick up the shipwrecked or wounded, or which, having picked them up, convey them on board a neutral or hospital ship, shall enjoy, until the accomplishment of their mission, the character of neutrality, as far as the circumstances of the engagement and the position of the ships engaged will permit.

The appreciation of these circumstances is entrusted to the humanity of all the combatants. The wrecked and wounded thus

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picked up and saved must not serve again during the continuance of the war.

ART. VII. The religious, medical, and hospital staff of any captured vessel are declared neutral, and, on leaving the ship, may remove the articles and surgical instruments which are their private property.

ART. VIII. The staff designated in the preceding article must continue to fulfill their functions in the captured ship, assisting in the removal of the wounded made by the victorious party; they will then be at liberty to return to their country, in conformity with the second paragraph of the first additional article."

The stipulations of the second additional article are applicable to the pay and allowance of the staff.

ART. IX. The military hospital ships remain under martial law in all that concerns their stores; they become the property of the captor, but the latter must not divert them from their special appropriation during the continuance of the war.

[The vessels not equipped for fighting, which, during peace, the Government shall have officially declared to be intended to serve as floating hospital ships, shall, however, enjoy during the war complete neutrality, both as regards stores, and also as regards their staff, provided their equipment is exclusively appropriated to the special service on which they are employed.]

ART. X. Any merchantman, to whatever nation she may belong, charged exclusively with removal of sick and wounded, is protected by neutrality, but the mere fact, noted on the ship's books, of the vessel having been visited by an enemy's cruiser, renders the sick and wounded incapable of serving during the continuance of the war. The cruiser shall even have the right of putting on board an officer in order to accompany the convoy, and thus verify the good faith of the operation.

If the merchant ship also carries a cargo, her neutrality will still protect it, provided that such cargo is not of a nature to be confiscated by the belligerent.

The belligerants retain the right to interdict neutralized vessels from all communication, and from any course which they may deem prejudicial to the secrecy of their operations. In urgent cases special conventions may be entered into between commanders in chief, in order to neutralize temporarily and in a special manner the vessels intended for the removal of the sick and wounded.

ART. XI. Wounded or sick sailors and soldiers, when embarked, to whatever nation they may belong, shall be protected and taken care of by their captors.

"ARTICLE I. The persons designated in Article II of the convention shall, after the occupation by the enemy, continue to fulfill their duties, according to their wants, to the sick and wounded in the ambulance or the hospital which they serve. When they request to withdraw, the commander of the occupying troops shall fix the time of departure, which he shall only be allowed to delay for a short time in case of military necessity.

ART. II. Arrangements will have to be made by the belligerent powers to ensure to the neutralized persons, fallen into the hands of the army of the enemy, the entire enjoyment of his salary.

Their return to their own country is subject to the provisions of Article VI of the convention and of the additional Article V."

ART. XII. The distinctive flag to be used with the national flag, in order to indicate any vessel or boat which may claim the benefits of neutrality, in virtue of the principles of this convention, is a white flag with a red cross. The belligerents may exercise in this respect any mode of verification which they may deem necessary.

Military hospital ships shall be distinguished by being painted white outside, with green strake.

ART. XIII. The hospital ships which are equipped at the expense of the aid societies, recognized by the governments signing this convention, and which are furnished with a commission emanating from the sovereign, who shall have given express authority for their being fitted out, and with a certificate from the proper naval authority that they have been placed under his control during their fitting out and on their final departure, and that they were then appropriated solely to the purpose of their mission, shall be considered neutral, as well as the whole of their staff. They shall be recognized and protected by the belligerents.

They shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross. The distinctive mark of their staff, while performing their duties, shall be an armlet of the same colors. The outer painting of these hospital ships shall be white, with red strake.

These ships shall bear aid and assistance to the wounded and wrecked belligerents, without distinction of nationality.

They must take care not to interfere in any way with the movements of the combatants. During and after the battle they must do their duty at their own risk and peril.

The belligerents shall have the right of controlling and visiting them; they will be at liberty to refuse their assistance, to order them to depart, and to detain them if the exigencies of the case require such a step.

The wounded and wrecked picked up by these ships can not be reclaimed by either of the combatants, and they will be required not to serve during the continuance of the war.

ART. XIV. In naval wars any strong presumption that either belligerent takes advantage of the benefits of neutrality, with any other view than the interest of the sick and wounded, gives to the other belligerent, until proof to the contrary, the right of suspending the convention as regards such belligerent.

Should this presumption become a certainty, notice may be given to such belligerent that the convention is suspended with regard to him during the whole continuance of the war.

ART. XV. The present act shall be drawn up in a single original copy, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Swiss Confederation.

"ART. V. In addition to Article VI of the convention, it is stipulated that, with the reservation of officers whose detention might be important to the fate of arms and within the limits fixed by the second paragraph of that article, the wounded fallen into the hands of the enemy shall be sent back to their country after they are cured, or sooner if possible, on condition, nevertheless, of not again bearing arms during the continuance of the war.