Article IV. lays down that the two contracting parties shall
put all the evidence at their disposal before the Commis- sion. Article VI. stipulates that the Report of the Com- mission shall be signed by all its members, and Article VII. that the Commission shall take all its decisions by a majority of votes. With regard to the omission of any reference to the punishment of guilty persons, as the Times points out in a very temperate and judicious article, this the second article, in view of its necessarily indeterminate and universal form, could hardly be expected to provide for. Here we have to rely on the "distinct statement" which Lord Lansdowne declared at the Guildhall had been given bins by the Czar's Government that the guilty would be punished. The terms of the Con- vention have been received with general satisfaction, for we cannot think that the bitter and inflammatory comments of the Morning Post on what it regards as the betrayal of British honour and prestige represent any substantial body of opinion. We may add that the four naval officers have now been appointed, and are—Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont (Great Britain), Admiral Kaznakoff (Russia), Rear-Admiral Fournier (France), and Rear-Admiral Davis (America).
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