Conference Proceedings

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Conference Proceedings

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• Publié par: ifydesut
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 70
• Langue: Français

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884., by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884. Protocols of the Proceedings Author: Various Release Date: February 12, 2006 [EBook #17759] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE *** Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Joseph Myers, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online Distributed Proofreading team at http://www.pgdp.net. Transcriber's Note: Text that has been changed to correct an obvious spelling error by the publisher is marked with a "hover note." INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HELD AT WASHINGTON FOR THE PURPOSE OF FIXING A AND P R I M E A U N I V E R S OCTOBER, 1884. PROTOCOLS OF THE PROCEEDINGS. WASHINGTON, D. C. GIBSON BROS., P RINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS. 1884. TABLE OF CONTENTS. I. Protocol, October 1, 1884 II. Protocol, October 2, 1884 III. Protocol, October 6, 1884 IV. Protocol, October 13, 1884 V. Protocol, October 14, 1884 VI. Protocol, October 20, 1884 VII. Protocol, October 22, 1884 VIII. Protocol, November 1, 1884 Final Act 1 13 35 73 113 151 195 205 199 Act of Congress authorizing the President of the United States to invite the Conference (Annex I) 209 Act of Congress making appropriation for expenses (Annex II) 209 Circular to United States representatives abroad bringing the subject to the attention of foreign governments (Annex III) 210 Circular to United States ministers extending invitation to foreign governments (Annex IV) 211 International Meridian Conference HELD IN THE [Pg 1] CITY OF WASHINGTON. I. SESSION OF OCTOBER 1, 1884. The Delegates to the International Meridian Conference, who assembled in Washington upon invitation addressed by the Government of the United States to all nations holding diplomatic relations with it, "for the purpose of fixing upon a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning throughout the globe," held their first conference to-day, October 1, 1884, in the Diplomatic Hall of the Department of State. The following delegates were present: On behalf of Austria-Hungary— Baron IGNATZ VON SCHÆFFER, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of Brazil— Dr. LUIZ C RULS, Director of the Imperial Observatory of Rio Janeiro . On behalf of Colombia— Commodore S. R. FRANKLIN, U. S. Navy , Superintendent U. S. Naval Observatory . On behalf of Costa Rica— Mr. JUAN FRANCISCO ECHEVERRIA , Civil Engineer . On behalf of France— Mr. A. LEFAIVRE, Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul-General . Mr. JANSSEN, of the Institute , Director of the Physical Observatory of Paris . On behalf of Germany— Baron H. VON ALVENSLEBEN, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of Great Britain— Captain Sir F. J. O. EVANS, Royal Navy . Prof. J. C. ADAMS, Director of the Cambridge Observatory . Lieut.-General STRACHEY , Member of the Council of India . Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING , Representing the Dominion of Canada . On behalf of Guatemala— M. MILES R OCK , President of the Boundary Commission . On behalf of Hawaii— Hon. W. D. ALEXANDER, Surveyor-General . Hon. LUTHER AHOLO , Privy Counsellor . On behalf of Italy— Count ALBERT DE FORESTA , First Secretary of Legation . On behalf of Japan— Professor KIKUCHI, Dean of the Scientific Dep't of the University of Tokio . On behalf of Mexico— Mr. LEANDRO FERNANDEZ, Civil Engineer . Mr. ANGEL ANGUIANO , Director of the National Observatory of Mexico . On behalf of Paraguay— Captain JOHN STEWART, Consul-General . On behalf of Russia— Mr. C. DE STRUVE, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . Major-General STEBNITZKI, Imperial Russian Staff . Mr. J. DE KOLOGRIVOFF, [Pg 3] [Pg 2] Conseiller d'État actuel . On behalf of San Domingo— Mr. M. DE J. GALVAN, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of Salvador— Mr. ANTONIO BATRES, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of Spain, Mr. JUAN VALERA , Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . Mr. EMILIO R UIZ DEL ARBOL, Naval Attaché to the Spanish Legation. Mr. JUAN PASTORIN, Officer of the Navy . On behalf of Sweden— Count C ARL LEWENHAUPT, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of Switzerland— Colonel EMILE FREY , Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of the United States— Rear-Admiral C. R. P. R ODGERS, U. S. Navy . Mr. LEWIS M. R UTHERFURD. Mr. W. F. ALLEN, Secretary Railway Time Conventions . Commander W. T. SAMPSON, U. S. Navy . Professor C LEVELAND ABBE, U. S. Signal Office. On behalf of Venezuela— Señor Dr. A. M. SOTELDO , Chargé d'Affaires. The following delegates were not present: On behalf of Chili— Mr. FRANCISCO VIDAL GORMAS, Director of the Hydrographic Office . Mr. ALVARO BIANCHI TUPPER, Assistant Director . On behalf of Denmark— Mr. C ARL STEEN ANDERSEN DE BILLE, Minister Resident and Consul-General . On behalf of Germany— Mr. H INCKELDEYN, Attaché of the German Legation . On behalf of Liberia— Mr. WILLIAM C OPPINGER, [Pg 5] [Pg 4] Consul-General . On behalf of the Netherlands— Mr. G. DE WECKHERLIN, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary . On behalf of Turkey— R USTEM EFFENDI, Secretary of Legation . The delegates were formally presented to the Secretary of State of the United States, the Honorable FREDERICK T. F RELINGHUYSEN , in his office at 12 o'clock. Upon assembling in the Diplomatic Hall, he called the Conference to order, and spoke as follows: GENTLEMEN: It gives me pleasure, in the name of the President of the United States, to welcome you to this Congress, where most of the nations of the earth are represented. 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. Wishing you all success in your important deliberations, and not doubting that you will reach a conclusion satisfactory to the civilized world, I, before leaving you, take the liberty to nominate, for the purpose of a temporary organization, Count Lewenhaupt. It will afford this Department pleasure to do all in its power to promote the convenience of the Congress and to facilitate its proceedings. By the unanimous voice of the Conference the Delegate of Sweden, Count LEWENHAUPT, took the chair, and said that, for the purpose of proceeding to a permanent organization, it was necessary to elect a President, and that he had the honor to propose for that office the chairman of the delegation of the United States of America, Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers. The Conference agreed unanimously to the proposition thus made, whereupon Admiral R ODGERS took the chair as President of the Conference, and made the following address: GENTLEMEN: I beg you to receive my thanks for the high honor you have conferred upon me in calling me, as the chairman of the delegation from the United States, to preside at this Congress. To it have come from widelyseparated portions of the globe, delegates renowned in diplomacy and science, seeking to create a new accord among the nations by agreeing upon a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time reckoning throughout the world. Happy shall we be, if, throwing aside national preferences and inclinations, we seek only the common good of mankind, and gain for science and for commerce a prime meridian acceptable to all countries, and secured with the least possible inconvenience. Having this object at heart, the Government of the United States has invited all nations with which it has diplomatic relations to send delegates to a Congress to assemble at Washington to-day, to discuss the question I have indicated. The invitation has been graciously received, and we are here this morning to enter upon the agreeable duty assigned to us by our respective governments. Broad as is the area of the United States, covering a hundred degrees of longitude, extending from 66° 52' west from Greenwich to 166° 13' at our extreme limit in Alaska, not including the Aleutian Islands; traversed, as it is, [Pg 6] by railway and telegraph lines, and dotted with observatories; long as is its sea coast, of more than twelve thousand miles; vast as must be its foreign and domestic commerce, its delegation to this Congress has no desire to urge that a prime meridian shall be found within its confines. In my own profession, that of a seaman, the embarrassment arising from the many prime meridians now in use is very conspicuous, and in the valuable interchange of longitudes by passing ships at sea, often difficult and hurried, sometimes only possible by figures written on a black-board, much confusion arises, and at times grave danger. In the use of charts, too, this trouble is also annoying, and to us who live upon the sea a common prime meridian will be a great advantage. Within the last two years we have been given reason to hope that this great desideratum may be obtained, and within a year a learned Conference, in which many nations were represented, expressed opinions upon it with singular unanimity, and in a very broad and catholic spirit. I need not trespass further upon your attention, except to lay before you the subject we are invited to discuss: the choice of "a meridian to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time r