1900 Hague Convention

[Guinness]

In attendance: Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf, Foreign Minister to His Majesty, Emperor Nicholas II

[snip]

Secretary of State John M. Hay will be attending to represent the United States of America.

[Jefgte]

Ministre des Affaires étrangères : Théophile Delcassé (Foreign Office) represent of France.

[miketr]

Bernhard von Bülow, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs for the German Empire

[The Rock Doctor]

OOC:  Somebody's there for the Ottomans.  I'll edit a name in later.

[Logi]

Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文), Minister of Foreign Affairs will represent Japan.

[Guinness]

Count Lamsdorf is touring the Huis ten Bosch Palace in the Hague with an aid.

"It was quite agreeable of the King to allow the use of his palace for this occasion sir!", the aid observed.

"Yes, His Majesty the Emporer has some influence over the House of Orange." The Count smiled before adding, "The French foreign minister has quite a bit more I suspect."

The aid showed the Count to the Orange Hall:



"Yes, this will do nicely. Ask the Dutch to set up a large U-shaped table in the center, and provide plenty of chairs. I expect the delegates will bring lots of aids."

"Quite so sir! Did you see the Army the Prussians brought?"

The Count smiled again. "I'm not sure Germans can travel anywhere without an Army. Certainly their Kaiser seems to enjoy a full escort."

[snip]

Hook of Holland, The Netherlands [Date to be added, do you have one in mind for the start of things Guinness?]

John Hay took a step of the gangplank of the USS Lexington. There had been some delays in getting the necessary arrangements made, so taking the big Frigate as his transport had been unavoidable. Besides, he thought to himself, there are some good-will port calls to be made^[1]. Why not show off a little bit. He spotted the delegation that was there to receive him quickly. Walking over to join them he motioned for his translators to follow. So it begins.

[1] Just let me know if you want to have the Lexy visit.

[Guinness]

I had in mind the end of July, if that's reasonable.

[Darman]

Great Britain is sending Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (i.e. Lord Salisbury)

[Guinness]

Great Britain is sending Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (i.e. Lord Salisbury)

Overheard: "We can just call him Lord Salisbury." "Good, that's a bit easier to spell."

[Walter]

Overheard: "We can just call him Lord Salisbury." "Good, that's a bit easier to spell."

Probably be even easier to use 'Bob'. ;D

China's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Jie Ziqi, will represent China. He will be assisted by Tan Hua who will translate stuff from Dutch or English to Chinese (Mandarin to be more precise) and vice versa. Temujin, Emperor of China, and Jamuk Ha, General of the Armies of China, will be there as well to observe the meeting (and perhaps give the Baron some suggestions and/or ideas if necessary).

(note: online translator gave me 'Jie Zi Qi' = 'mustard gas' and 'Tan Hua' = 'talk, conversation', so you got Baron Mustard Gas and translator Talk)

[Kaiser Kirk]

The Italian Foreign Minister, Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta, accompanied by the Count of Turin,  Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy-Aosta. The Marquis, retained by the new administration, has served intermittently as the Italian minister for Foreign Affairs since 1863, an unparalleled 37 year career.  The Count, 2nd in line to the Italian throne, Infante of Spain, Colonello of the Cavalry, famed winner of a duel against Henri of Orleans. The Count has recently completed his world tour, visiting Europe, America, Japan, China and the Orient.

[The Rock Doctor]

I'm thinking maybe we should just discuss/adopt these out-of-character.  The discussion isn't going anywhere.

[Guinness]

OOC: Sorry, everyone maybe was waiting on me to kick it off.

Count Lamsdorf rises and says a few words to open the proceedings. He speaks Russian, and nobody bothers to translate. It's just the usual "thanks for coming" boiler plate.

He then puts forth his proposals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conventions_of_1899_and_1907#Hague_Convention_of_1899