of the Convention of 1899. The Convention limited the report of the International Committee to ' a statement of facts.' The Dogger Bank Commission not only made a statement of the facts in dispute - namely (1) that the firing was unjustifiable; (2) that the Commander of the Fleet was responsible; and (3) that the facts were 'not of a nature to cast any discredit on the humanity' of Russian officers. It is important to remember that the Commission was composed of five naval officers and two jurists (the latter being assessors without votes); it was therefore an International Courtmartial or Court composed of experts. 'It is doubtful,' writes Sir Frederick Pollock, whether a formal tribunal of jurists and diplomatists could have handled this delicate affair so well, if at all.'"] Yet fixing responsibility is not essentially a juridic attribute. The convention of reference in other respects followed the provisions of The Hague, and named Paris as the place for sitting. Admiral Dubassov was the Russian member, and Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont the British. By the convention the Governments of France and the United States were to name two commissioners, the persons selected being Rear-Admiral Fournier and Rear-Admiral Charles Henry Davis. These four chose the fifth and president, Admiral von Spaun, of Austria. "The Commission met on December 22, and on February 26, 1905, its report was published. The majority of the commissioners, the Russian dissenting, found that, 'being of opinion that there was no torpedo boat either among the trawlers nor on the spot, the fire opened by Admiral Rozhdestvensky was not justifiable'; that 'the responsibility for this act and the results of the cannonade sustained by the fishing fleet rests with Admiral Rozhdestvensky.' On March 9 the Russian ambassador handed to Lord Lansdowne, secretary of state for foreign affairs, the sum of £65,000 as the amount of indemnity due to Hull fishermen. On March 24 the Board of Trade published its report on the depositions taken from November 16 to 20, fixing the amount of damages at £60,000, so that the Russian payment more than covered the damages."-Denys P. Myers in a pamphlet published by the World Peace Foundation, November, 1913, Vol. III, No. 1, Part 1. |