The Russian Ambassador at Washington, Baron Rosen, has informed the
United States Government that Russia, in agreement with the Netherlands, proposes to call the Second Peace Conference to assemble at the Hague on July 1st. The resume of the proposals handed to Mr. Root, while excluding all political questions, provides for the amelioration of the provisions of the Hague Convention concerning the settle- ment of international controversies so far as the Court of Arbitration is concerned. The proposed additions include laws relating to the usages of land warfare, the opening of hostilities, the rights of neutrals, the changing of merchant- men into warships, the private property of belligerents at Rea, the question of contraband, the rules regarding belligerent vessels in neutral ports, and the destruction of merchantmen capturdd as prizes.
