of pillage and maltreatment of the wounded and sick of armies, as well as for the punishment, as an unlawful employment of military insignia, of the improper use of the Red Cross flag and armlet (brassard) by officers and soldiers or private individuals not protected by the present Convention.

They shall communicate to one another, through the Swiss Federal Council, the provisions relative to these measures of repression at the latest within five years from the ratification of the present Convention.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ART. 29.—The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible. The ratifications shall be deposited at Berne.

When each ratification is deposited, a procès-verbal shall be drawn up, and a copy thereof certified as correct shall be forwarded through the diplomatic channel to all the Contracting Powers.

ART. 30.-The present Convention shall come into force for each Power six months after the date of the deposit of its ratification.

ART. 31.-The present Convention, duly ratified, shall replace the Convention of August 22, 1864, in relations between the Contracting States.

The Convention of 1864 remains in force between such of the parties who signed it who may not likewise ratify the present Convention.

ART. 32.-The present Convention may be signed until December 31 next by the Powers represented at the Conference which was opened at Geneva on June 11, 1906, as also by the Powers, not represented at that Conference, which signed the Convention of 1864.

Such of the aforesaid Powers as shall not have signed the present Convention by December 31, 1906, shall remain free to accede to it subsequently. They shall notify their accession by means of a written communication addressed to the Swiss Federal Council, and communicated by the latter to all the Contracting Powers.

Other Powers may apply to accede in the same manner, but

their request shall only take effect if within a period of one year from the notification of it to the Federal Council no objection to it reaches the Council from any of the Contracting Powers.

XII.

Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention (No. X.).

[N.B.-Great Britain being bound by the older Convention of 1899, the older text is given with the later one. Where there have been alterations, the older text is between brackets, the new one in italics.]

(Names of High Contracting Parties.)

Her Majesty the Queen, etc.

Alike animated by the desire to diminish, as far as depends on them, the evils inseparable from warfare; and wishing with this object to adapt to maritime warfare the principles of the Geneva Convention of [August 22, 1864], July 6, 1906; have decided to conclude a Convention for the purpose of revising the Convention of July 29, 1899, relative to the same subject, and have

[They have, in consequence], appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, etc.:

(Names and Description of Plenipotentiaries.)

Who, after [communication] deposit of their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed on the following provisions:

ART. 1.-Military hospital-ships, that is to say, ships constructed or assigned by States specially and solely for the purpose of assisting the wounded, sick, or shipwrecked, and the names of which shall have been communicated to the belligerent Powers at the commencement or during the course of hostilities, and in any case before they are employed, shall be respected and cannot be captured while hostilities last.

These ships, moreover, are not on the same footing as menof-war as regards their stay in a neutral port.

ART. 2.-Hospital-ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private individuals or officially recognized Relief Societies, shall likewise be respected and exempt from capture, provided the belligerent Power to whom they belong has given them an official commission, and has notified their names to the hostile Power at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in any case before they are employed.

These ships should be furnished with a certificate from the competent authorities, declaring that they had been under their control while fitting out and on final departure.

ART. 3.-Hospital-ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private individuals or officially recognized Societies of neutral countries, shall be respected and exempt from capture [if the neutral Power to whom they belong has given them an official commission and notified their names to the belligerent Powers at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in any case before they are employed], on condition that they have placed themselves under the control of one of the belligerents, with the previous approval of their own Government, and with the authorization of the belligerent himself, and that the latter has notified their name to his adversary from the commencement of or during hostilities, in any case, before they are employed.

ART. 4.-The ships mentioned in Arts. 1, 2, and 3 shall afford relief and assistance to the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked of the belligerents independently of their nationality. The Governments pledge themselves not to use these ships for any military purpose.

These ships must not in any way hamper the movements of the combatants.

During and after an engagement they will act at their own risk and peril.

The belligerents will have the right to control and visit them; they can refuse to help them, order them off, make them take a certain course, and put a commissioner on board; they can even detain them, if important circumstances require it.

As far as possible the belligerents shall inscribe in the sailing papers of the hospital-ships the orders they give them.

ART. 5.-The military hospital-ships shall be distinguished by being painted white outside with a horizontal band of green about a metre and a half in breadth.

The ships mentioned in Arts. 2 and 3 shall be distinguished by being painted white outside with a horizontal band of red about a metre and a half in breadth.

The boats of the ships above mentioned, as also small craft which may be used for hospital work, shall be distinguished by similar painting.

All hospital-ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross provided by the Geneva Convention, and besides, if they belong to a neutral State, by flying at the mainmast the national flag of the belligerent, under whose control they have placed

themselves.

The hospital-ships that, in the terms of Art. 4, are detained by the enemy must haul down the national flag of the belligerent to which they belong.

The ships and boats above referred to, which at night wish to ensure the immunities to which they are entitled, must, with the consent of the belligerent whom they accompany, take the necessary measures so that their characteristic painting should be sufficiently plain.

ART. 6.-[Neutral merchantmen, yachts, or vessels, having, or taking, on board, sick, wounded, or shipwrecked of the belligerents, cannot be captured for so doing, but they are liable to capture for any violation of neutrality they may have committed.]

The distinguishing signs mentioned in Art. 5 can only be employed, whether in time of peace or war, to protect or indicate the ships therein referred to.

ART. 7.—In the case of a fight on board a warship, the sick bays shall be respected and spared as much as possible.

These sick bays and their appurtenances continue to be subjected to the laws of war, but cannot be diverted from their ordinary use, so long as they are required for the sick and wounded.

However, the commander, into whose power they are, may dispose of them, in case of serious military need, after having previously provided for the requirements of the wounded and sick on board.

ART. 8.-The protection due to hospital-ships and to a ship's sick bays cease if they are put to such use as help to injure the

enemy.

The fact that the staff of these ships and sick wards is armed for maintaining order and defending the wounded or sick, as well as the fact of there being on board a wireless telegraphy apparatus, do not justify the withdrawal of protection.

ART. 9.—Belligerents may appeal to the zeal and charity of captains of neutral merchant vessels, yachts, or boats to embark and nurse the wounded or sick.

The ships that have answered this appeal, as well as those who have spontaneously rescued wounded, sick, or shipwrecked men, will enjoy a special protection and certain immunities. In no case can they be captured owing to such transport, but apart from promises that may have been made to them they remain liable to capture for all violations against neutrality they may have committed.

ART. [7] 10.—The religious, medical, or hospital staff of any captured ship is inviolable, and its members cannot be made prisoners of war. On leaving the ship they take with them the objects and surgical instruments which are their own private property.

This staff shall continue to discharge its duties while necessary, and can afterwards leave when the commander-in-chief considers it possible.

The belligerents must guarantee to the staff that has fallen into their hands [the enjoyment of their salaries intact] the same allowance and pay as drawn by the staff of corresponding rank in their own navy.

ART. [8] II.-Sailors and soldiers, who are taken on board when sick or wounded, and all others officially attached to navies and armies, to whatever nation they belong, shall be [protected] respected and looked after by the captors.

ART. 12.-Every belligerent warship can claim the handing over of wounded, sick, or shipwrecked men, who are on board military, relief societies, or private hospital-ships, merchant vessels, yachts, and boats, whatever their nationality may be.

ART. 13.-If wounded, sick, or shipwrecked men are rescued by a neutral warship, every possible arrangement must be made