Various - International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884.

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Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that he was opposed to the
proposition to admit to the deliberations of this Conference
gentlemen, no matter how distinguished or eminent they might be, who
were not specially delegated by their Governments as members of this
body. He questioned the power of the Conference to admit to its
discussions persons who were not regularly appointed to vote upon the
subject at issue; that this was an international conference created
for the purpose of obtaining an interchange of views from the
representatives of the different Governments; that it would extend the
scope of the work before this body to entertain the views and opinions
of persons not authorized to speak for the Governments whose Delegates
are here; that there would be a great divergence of opinion among such
men, and the result would be rather to embarrass than to help this
Conference to an accord. He insisted that the matter was exclusively
governmental, and, while he would be happy to extend any courtesy to
men distinguished in science, such as the gentlemen who are proposed
to be invited, he felt constrained to oppose the proposition under the
circumstances.

The PRESIDENT stated that he understood that the resolution did not
propose to confer a vote upon the gentlemen invited, but simply to
enable them to lay any information before the Conference which they
might have upon the matter at issue.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, contended that the resolution was
intended to authorize these gentlemen to deliberate, and he thought
that the inconvenience would be very great of extending this privilege
to persons not authorized to represent their Governments. He did not
think it was reasonable or fair that his opinions should be questioned
or opposed by the opinions of men not authorized to speak for their
Governments.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, said that as he had taken
upon himself to make some remarks both as to the manner in which the
gentlemen should be invited and the extent of their rights when
invited, he wished to say that while he agreed with much that had been
said by the Delegate of France, he held that these gentlemen should
have an opportunity of expressing their views; that they were not to
come here merely to listen to the proceedings, but that they should
themselves be heard.

The PRESIDENT directed that the resolution be read in French, and then
put it to the vote, when it was unanimously adopted.

Commander SAMPSON. Delegate of the United States, then offered the
following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the gentlemen who have just been invited
to attend the meetings of the Conference be permitted to
take part in the discussion of all scientific questions."

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate for France, then stated that it was not in
accordance with the object of this Conference that private
individuals, not authorized by their respective Governments, should be
permitted to influence the decision of this body, and that, while it
was very proper to extend courtesy to such learned gentlemen as were
invited, it surely was never intended that they should participate in
our proceedings.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, said that it would, perhaps,
save trouble if he stated his views on the point under discussion,
which he apprehended were generally in accordance with those of the
representative from France. He said that, if he were permitted, he
would read a resolution, which he suggested might be accepted as a
substitute for that pending before the Conference, and it was as
follows:

"_Resolved_, That the President be authorized, with the
concurrence of the Delegates, to request an expression of
the opinions of the gentlemen invited to attend the Congress
on any subject on which their opinion may be likely to be
valuable."

The PRESIDENT inquired in what way they would express it.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, stated that it would be
orally.

The PRESIDENT replied that the resolution undoubtedly read that way.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, stated that the language,
"to take part in the discussion," employed in the resolution of
Commander Sampson, would mean that the persons invited would be in a
position, of their own motion, either to reply to remarks made, or to
state their own views, or to take part in the discussion just as the
Delegates are entitled to do.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that he hoped that the
proposition of the Delegate of Great Britain would not be pressed
until a vote was had upon the original resolution.

The PRESIDENT then put the resolution to a vote; but, being unable to
determine from the _viva voce_ vote whether it was carried or not, he
stated that the roll would be called.

Mr. FREY, Delegate of Switzerland, stated that he thought before the
vote was taken a decision should be had upon the question, how the
Delegates were to vote--whether as nations or as individuals.

The PRESIDENT announced that it had been the custom in all such
conferences to vote as nations, each nation casting one vote, and that
no other way seemed practicable; and that in conformity with this
ruling the roll would be called and the vote taken by nations.

The roll was then called, when the following States voted in the
affirmative:

Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Italy, Mexico,
San Domingo, Salvador,
Switzerland, Venezuela.

And the following in the negative:

Austria-Hungary, Brazil,
Colombia, France,
Germany, Great Britain,
Hawaii, Japan,
Paraguay, Russia,
Spain, Sweden.
United States,

The PRESIDENT then announced that the ayes were 8 and the noes 13, and
that the resolution was lost.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, then renewed his resolution,
which was as follows:

"_Resolved_, That the President be authorized, with the
concurrence of the Delegates, to request an expression of
the opinions of the gentlemen invited to attend the Congress
on any subject on which their opinion may be likely to be
valuable."

No discussion arose upon this resolution, and it was adopted.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, then offered the
following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the meetings of this Congress be open to
interested visitors."

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that he considered this a
subject of grave importance; that this was an official and
confidential body; scientific, it was true, but also diplomatic; that
it was empowered to confer about matters with which the general public
have now nothing to do; that to admit the public to the meetings would
destroy their privacy and subject the Conference to the influence of
an outside pressure which might prove very prejudicial to its
proceedings, and that he would object to this resolution absolutely.

No further discussion being had, the PRESIDENT, after a _viva voce_
vote of doubtful result, ordered the roll to be called, when the
following States voted in the affirmative:

Colombia, Costa Rica,
Guatemala, Paraguay,
Salvador, Spain.
Venezuela,

And the following States in the negative.

Austria-Hungary, Brazil,
France, Germany,
Great Britain, Hawaii,
Italy, Japan,
Mexico, Russia,
San Domingo, Sweden,
Switzerland, United States.

The PRESIDENT then announced that the ayes were 7 and the noes 14, and
that the resolution was therefore lost.

The PRESIDENT then said that there would doubtless be some preliminary
general discussion on the subject before the Conference, and suggested
that if Delegates desired to be heard upon the subject it would be
expedient to give an intimation to the Secretary.

Prof. ABBE, Delegate of the United States, then said: I have been
requested to present to the Conference the communication that I hold
in my hand, and in doing so wish to offer the following resolution:

"Whereas several persons desire to submit to this Conference
inventions, devices, and systems of universal time:
therefore,

"_Resolved_, That the Conference will acknowledge the
receipt of such communications, but will abstain from any
expression of opinion as to their respective merits."

Professor ADAMS, Delegate of Great Britain, said that the Conference
should be very cautious in admitting the devices and schemes of people
who have no connection with this body; that there are, no doubt, many
inventors and many people who have plans and schemes which they wish
to press upon the Conference, and that it was probable that the
Conference would be subjected to very great inconvenience if they took
upon themselves even the burden of acknowledging the receipt of these
communications.

The PRESIDENT stated that he had received several Communions of this
character, one proposing that Jerusalem should be taken as the prime
meridian.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, proposed that the Conference should
appoint a committee to examine the different papers submitted by
outside parties, and to make such suggestions as they might deem
proper after examining the papers.

Mr. VALERA, Delegate of Spain, said that it seemed to him the proper
course of proceeding for the Conference was to take up the subject
article by article, and treat it in that order; that there were
presented to the Conference certain well-defined propositions, and
that besides these there were the resolutions which had been adopted
by the Conference at Rome, which could be used as a basis for the
discussions of this Conference; that in that way the Delegates would
have before them some precise subject-matter, and after discussion, if
any proposition needed to be altered or amended it would be in the
power of the Conference to do so, but that unless some regular method
of proceeding were adopted the sessions would be prolonged
indefinitely, and the Conference would be confused by a multitude of
irrelevant propositions that might be presented to them.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, stated that it seemed
to him that to invite a general discussion upon the subject, which has
undoubtedly a great many heads, the best method would be the one just
suggested; that by having a well-defined course much time would be
saved, and there would be a precision in the proceedings, which
undoubtedly is always valuable; that in this way the discussion could
be kept within bounds, but unless there is some proposition pending
before the Conference it is impossible to say whether any discussion
is in order or out of order; that it seemed to him there should be
some well-defined propositions laid before the Conference, and those
propositions could easily be gathered, not only from what has gone
before, not only from the Conference which has been held in Rome, but
from the acts of Congress and the circulars of the Secretary of
State, under which this body has been organized.

The PRESIDENT stated that if these communications from outside parties
were brought before the Conference it would entail a great deal of
labor.

The resolution of the Delegate of the United States, Prof. ABBE, was
then put to the vote, and was negatived.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, then presented the
following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference proposes to the Governments
represented the adoption as a standard meridian that of
Greenwich passing through the centre of the transit
instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich."

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, remarked that the proposed
resolution seemed to him out of order, and that his colleague, Mr.
Janssen, desired to address the Conference on the subject. He went on
to say:

The competence of the Conference can give rise to no long debate among
us. Let us remark, in the first place, that no previous engagement
exists, on the part of the Governments, to adopt the results of our
discussions, and that consequently our decisions cannot be compared to
those of a deliberative congress or an international commission acting
according to definite powers.

We have no definite powers, or rather, we have no executive power,
since our decisions cannot be invoked executively by one Government
towards others.

Does this mean that our decisions will be wholly unauthoritative? An
assembly which numbers so many eminent delegates, and in which there
is so much scientific knowledge, must certainly be regarded with
profound respect by all the Powers of the world. Its powers, however,
must be of a wholly moral character, and will have to be balanced
against rights and interests no less worthy of consideration, leaving
absolutely intact the independence of each individual State.

Under these circumstances, gentlemen, it seems to me that our course
is already marked out for us. From our Conference is to be elicited
the expression of a collective wish, a draft of a resolution, which is
to be adopted by the majority of this assembly, and afterwards
submitted to the approval of our respective Governments.

This is our mission. It is a great one, and has a lofty international
bearing. We must, however, realize its extent from the very outset,
and not go beyond its limits.

An appeal has been made to the decisions of the Conference held at
Rome. But, gentlemen, I beg leave to remark that that Conference was
composed entirely of specialists, and that it did not meet for the
purpose of examining the question in an international point of view.
This Conference is composed of various elements, among which are
scientists of the highest standing, but also functionaries of high
rank, who are not familiar with scientific subjects, and who are
charged with an examination of this question from a political
stand-point. It is, moreover, our privilege to be philosophers and
cosmopolitans, and to contemplate the interests of mankind not only
for the present, but for the most distant future.

You see, gentlemen, that we enjoy absolute freedom, and that we are in
nowise bound by the decisions of the Conference held at Rome. It is
even desirable that those precedents should be appealed to as little
as possible, inasmuch as we have scientists among us who are regarded
as authorities in both the Old and the New World, and who are
perfectly capable of directing us in technical matters, and of
furnishing all the information that we can desire. I will say even
more than this: The results of the Conference held at Rome are by no
means regarded as possessing official authority by the Governments
that have accredited us; for if those results had been taken as a
starting point, there would be no occasion for our Conference, and our
Governments would simply have to decide with regard to the acceptance
or rejection of the resolutions adopted by the Geodetic Congress at
Rome.

Everything, however, is intact, even the scientific side of the
question, and that is the reason why we have so many Delegates
possessing technical knowledge among us.

The PRESIDENT stated that he considered the resolution entirely in
order, and likely to bring about a discussion upon the very point for
which this Conference was called together; that the resolution was
open to any amendment that might be offered, could be altered from
time to time if necessary, and, if it did not meet the sense of the
Conference, could be defeated.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, inquired whether this proposition
did not demand an immediate solution.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, replied that no such
thing was contemplated.

Prof. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, then spoke as follows:

GENTLEMEN: I formally request that the resolution just proposed by my
eminent colleague and friend, Mr. Rutherford, be held in reserve, and
that it may not now be pressed for discussion.

It is wholly undesirable that a proposition of so grave a character,
which forestalls one of the most important resolutions that we shall
be called upon to adopt, should be put to the vote while our meeting
has scarcely been organized, and before any discussion relative to the
true merits of the questions to be considered has taken place.

This would be inverting the proper order of things and reaching a
conclusion before having examined the subject before us.

Before discussing the question of the selection of a meridian which is
to serve as a common zero of longitude for all the nations of the
world, (if the Congress shall think proper to discuss that point,) it
is evident that we must first decide the question of principle which
is to govern all our proceedings; that is to say, whether it is
desirable to fix upon a common zero of longitude for all nations. I
therefore formally ask for the withdrawal of Mr. Rutherford's
proposition.

The PRESIDENT stated that as something had been said about the
Conference at Rome, he desired to say that he had carefully abstained
from any allusion to it, and that the delegation of the United States
found no allusions to it in their instructions; that, so far as the
Chair understood the resolution offered by the Delegate of the United
States, it was simply to bring before the Conference the consideration
of the subject of a prime meridian; that he did not understand that
even the Delegate who presented the motion offered it as an expression
of his own opinion on the subject, but that he had carefully stated,
when he had brought the resolution before the Conference, that it was
for the purpose of enabling the Delegates to proceed to an immediate
discussion. He added, further, that the resolution was quite open to
amendment in case the Delegates from France desired to amend it.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, stated that he
wished to offer the following as a substitute for the resolution
already pending:

"_Resolved_, That it is the opinion of this Congress that it
is desirable to adopt a single prime meridian for all
nations in place of the multiplicity of initial meridians
which now exist."

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, then announced that he
accepted this substitution in place of the first resolution.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of England, stated that if he rightly
understood the remarks made by the Delegate of France, Mr. LEFAIVRE,
he thought that it was intended to call attention to the ultimate form
in which the resolutions of this Congress should be recorded. He
referred to the address which the Secretary of State of the United
States (Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN) made to the Delegates on their assembling,
in which he said: "You have met to discuss and consider the important
question of a prime meridian for all nations. It will rest with you to
give a definite result to the preparatory labors of other scientific
associations and special congresses, and thus make those labors
available."

He added that the object at which they should aim was to put together
a series of resolutions which could be presented to the various
Governments whose representatives are here present, with a view to
inducing them to accept the decision which may be arrived at by this
Conference, and, finally, to put that decision in a diplomatic form--a
form which shall be more definite and precise than the mere
resolutions which would be adopted by a purely scientific body; this
he understood to be the position to be adopted by the Delegates to
this Conference. He then said that it seemed to him that it would be
necessary, after settling the original shape of the resolutions, that
they should be reconsidered and afterwards put together in an orderly
way, in a manner which would give a regular and satisfactory record of
the proceedings; that it appeared almost certain to him that the
discussions would be desultory in their nature, but that ultimately a
revision would be had after the rough-hewing of the blocks out of
which the edifice was to be formed; that he had no wish, at the
present stage of the discussion, to go into the merits of the question
presented; that, for his part, he thought it more prudent to abstain,
but that with reference to the remarks of his honorable friends from
France, he could not agree that they should set aside what occurred at
Rome; that the discussions at Rome were most valuable; they went
thoroughly into the whole question, and he apprehended that every
gentleman in the Conference was possessed of the records of what
occurred there.

He continued by saying that he thought that the Delegate from France,
Mr. LEFAIVRE, went a little beyond what was strictly right in saying
that we should shut our eyes to what occurred there; that, for his own
part, he was obliged to pay attention to what occurred there; that
some of the most eminent scientific men to be found in any country met
there and fully discussed the questions now before us, and that the
Delegates here present were now called upon to revise what occurred
there.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, said that the Delegate
from France, Mr. LEFAIVRE, in his remarks, insisted that we should
first establish for what purpose the Delegates were here assembled;
that he wished to refer to the circulars sent out by the Government of
the United States, under which this Conference was called together. He
said that he could assert, without fear of contradiction, that in
those communications the President stated that it was believed to be a
foregone conclusion that a prime meridian was desirable; that that was
the basis on which the President acted in giving his invitation; that
how he came to that conclusion he does not state--whether or not the
proceedings at Rome had anything to do with it, but he thought that
they had a great influence on the mind of the President; that,
doubtless, his action was not determined solely by that, and,
therefore, that the Secretary of State first made a tentative
application to see whether a proposition for another Conference was
acceptable, and that he found all countries here represented answering
the circular in the affirmative; that they agreed with him that a
conference for this purpose was desirable.

He continued by saying that the Secretary of State then sent a second
invitation to the different nations to send Delegates, who were to
assemble here on the first of October, 1884, for the purpose of
establishing a prime meridian and a universal time. He added that it
seemed to him a great loss of time to go over the question whether a
prime meridian was or was not desirable; that the Delegates were sent
here for the purpose of agreeing upon a prime meridian. He then asked
why this Conference should lose time in discussing that question.

The resolution offered by the Delegate of the United States, Commander
SAMPSON, was then unanimously adopted as follows:

"_Resolved_, That it is the opinion of this Congress that it
is desirable to adopt a single prime meridian for all
nations in place of the multiplicity of initial meridians
which now exist."

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, then renewed his
original resolution, as follows:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference proposes to the Governments
represented the adoption as a standard meridian that of
Greenwich, passing through the centre of the transit
instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich."

Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, stated that he wished to reiterate
the objections that he had already offered to the first resolution,
and spoke as follows:

GENTLEMEN: Mr. Lefaivre, my honorable colleague, and I are of the
opinion that the mission of this Congress is chiefly to examine
questions of principle.

I consider that we shall do a very important thing if we proclaim the
principle of the adoption of a meridian which shall be the same for
all nations.

The advantages of such a meridian have been felt by the geographers
and navigators of all ages. France might claim the honor of having
sought to accomplish this reform as early as the seventeenth century.
It is not to be expected, therefore, that France, at this late day,
will seek to place any obstacles in the way of the adoption of an
improvement which would by this time have been adopted if the use of
the meridian which she proposed, and which she had caused to be
generally accepted, had been continued.

We therefore fully agree with you, gentlemen, as to the principle of a
common international meridian, impartially defined and wisely applied,
and we think that if the Congress should cause a useful reform, which
has been so long expected, to be finally adopted, it would render a
great service to the world, and one that would do us the highest
honor.

This point being gained, is it proper for us to proceed to the
adoption of such a meridian? We think not, unless we are assured by a
previous declaration as to the principle which is to govern the
selection of that meridian. Without such a declaration, we should have
no power to begin a discussion on an undefined subject, and we are not
authorized to pledge ourselves.

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