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His Excellency von Müller: It is a true pleasure for me, in my capacity as Delegate of Germany, to support the proposition which the First Delegate of France has just made and to second the nomination of Mr. CREMER as President of the Second International Opium Conference.
Mr. Cremer taking the presidential chair delivered the following address:
GENTLEMEN,
You have kindly named as President of this Opium Conference, the first Delegate of the country which has the honour to receive you in this city for the second time.
Gentlemen, I am greatly honored and I trust that I may prove worthy of your confidence, although I should have preferred to see in this place the worthy and conscientious President of the First Conference, the Right Reverend CHARLES H. BRENT.
I accept this office with much more confidence as the task devolves upon me of offering in the name of the Second International Opium Conference the Honorary Presidency to His Excellency Jonkheer R. DE MAREES VAN SWINDEREN, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who, I am sure, will kindly lend me his support. as he has done for my predecessor.
(Applause).
Furthermore, our task during the First Conference was more onerous; we had then strictly to formulate the principles and the desires that compelled us to endeavor to solve the international problem of the abuse of opium, mor phine and cocaine and to relegate the use of these drugs to the exclusive field of medicine. We had then to formulate a convention which, while considering the different interests, should be acceptable to all nations.
Now we have the limited task of considering the ratification of the Convention of January 23, 1912.
The signatures of all the invited Powers not having been obtained, we should proceed to consider the possibility of depositing, nevertheless, the ratifications of the signatory Powers.
We hope, Gentlemen, that notwithstanding the difficulties that we shall have to overcome, our perseverance, our patience and our faith will lead us to victory. And if we do not reach it at once, let us remain not only "apostles of hope" as my eminent predecessor has called us, but let us demonstrate our conviction that the increasing abuse of soporifics can only be effectively fought by the coopera tion of all the civilized nations.
The President said that he considered it his first duty that the following message be sent to Her Majesty the Queen of The Netherlands. "The represen- tatives of the countries, assembled at The Hague for the Second International Opium Conference, have the honor to express to your Royal Majesty their appreciation of the gracious reception extended to them in the City of Your Majesty's residence, as well as the homage of their very respectful devotion". (Unanimous applause).
The President proposed that French be adopted as the official language, as at the first Conference, and that the proceedings be recorded in that language, The use of other languages, however, shall be authorized in the Conference.
This proposal was adopted.
Upon the proposal of the PRESIDENT, the Conference designated the following to compose the Secretariat:
Dr. J. A. A. H. DE BEAUFORT, Chief Clerk of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Secretary-General.
Mr. H. PETITPIED, Consul of France at The Hague. Secretary;
Mr. H. VAN DER MANDERE;
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Jonkheer A. W. L. TARDA VAN STARKENBORGH STACHOUWER, Assistant Recorder of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs;
Mr. L. G. VAN HOORN, Honorary Attaché of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs;
Mr. L. WERY;
Assistant Secretaries.
The President proposed to set to-morrow, Wednesday, at eleven A. M. for the next meeting.
After some discussion, in which His Excellency Mr. Jorje Huneeus, His Excellency Mr. Ferreira, His Excellency Mr. Marcellin Pellet and the President participated, it was asked if anyone desired to make further proposals.
Dr. Hamilton Wright, remarking that some Delegates had only just arrived and were not familiar with the subject, proposed that the next meeting be set for Thursday at 2 P.M. Rules and a program should be prepared to facilitate the deliberations and to render them of greater value.
His Excellency Mr. Yen approved the American proposition.
The President said that there was a very noticeable difference between this Conference and the preceeding one, for which rules and a program were necessary. The object of the present Conference is only to decide the question of ratification and for this reason a Committee on Program does not appear at all necessary,
Dr. Hamilton Wright agreed that perhaps a Committee of Program is not necessary but observed that the possibility that one Government would be ready to ratify while another would be desirous of first modifying the Convention should be considered.
Sir William Collins concluded from the words of the President that the Conference is assembled to consider the method in which Article 28 of the Convention should be followed. It did not seem to him at all necessary to nominate a Committee on Program as had been done in the Conference of 1911-1912. He suggested that the discussions be commenced on Wednesday afternoon, and that the matter of daily sittings could then be considered.
Dr. Hamilton Wright withdrew his proposition and expressed himself in entire accord with that of Sir WILLIAM COLLINS.
Mr. Archer proposed a modification to the effect that the meeting be at half past two. This proposal submitted to vote was carried by twenty affirmative votes and one abstention, that of Portugal.
The meeting was adjourned at three fourty-five P. M.
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