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<p align="right"> [[Main_Page | WWI Document Archive]] > [[Conventions and Treaties ]] > '''Washington Treaty in Relation to the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare'''
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<font size =4>Washington, D.C., February 6, 1922</font>
<hr>

THE
UNITED STATES of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and
Japan,
hereinafter referred to as the Signatory Powers, desiring to make
more effective
the rules adopted by civilized nations for the protection of
the lives of
neutrals and noncombatants at sea in time of war, and to
prevent the use
in war of noxious gases and chemicals, have determined to
conclude a Treaty
to this effect, and have appointed as their
Plenipotentiaries:
<br><br>
The President of the United States of America;
Charles Evans Hughes;
Henry Cabot Lodge; Oscar W. Underwood; Elihu Root,
citizens of the United
States.
<br><br>
His Majesty the King of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
and of the British Dominions beyond
the Seas, Emperor of India; The Right
Honourable Arthur James Balfour, O.
M., M. P., Lord President of His Privy
Council; The Right Honourable Baron
Lee of Fareham, G. B. E., K. C. B.,
First Lord of His Admiralty; The Right
Honourable Sir Auckland Campbell
Geddes, K. C. B., His Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the
United States of America;
-;
<br><br>
and for the Dominion of Canada The Right Honourable Sir
Robert Laird
Borden, G. C. M. G., K. C.; for the Commonwealth of Australia:
Senator,
the Right Honourable George Foster Pearce, Minister for Home and
Territories; for the Dominion of New Zealand: The Honourable Sir John
William Salmond, K. C., Judge of the Supreme Court of New
Zealand;
<br><br>
for the Union of South Africa: The Right Honourable Arthur
James Balfour,
O. M., M. P.; for India: The Right Honourable Valingman
Sankaranarayana
Srinivasa Sastri, Member of the Indian Council of
State.
<br><br>
The President of the French Republic: Mr. Albert Sarraut,
Deputy, Minister
of the Colonies; Mr. Jules J. Jusserand, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
to the United States of America, Grand
Cross of the National Order of the
Legion of Honour.
<br><br>
His Majesty
the King of Italy; The Honourable Carlo Schanzer, Senator
of the Kingdom;
The Honourable Vittorio Rolandi Ricci, Senator of the Kingdom,
Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington; The Honourable
Luigi
Albertini, Senator of the Kingdom.
<br><br>
His Majesty the Emperor of
Japan: Baron Tomosaburo Kato, Minister for
the Navy, Junii, a member of the
First Class of the Imperial Order of the
Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun
with the Paulownia Flower; Baron Kijuro Shidehara,
His Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington, Joshii,
a member of the
First Class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun; Mr.
Masanao Hanihara,
Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jushii, a member of
the Second Class of
the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun.
<br><br>
Who, having communicated
their Full Powers, found in good and form, have
agreed as follows:
<br><br>
ARTICLE I<br>

The Signatory Powers declare that among the
rules adopted by civilized
nations for the protection of the lives of
neutrals and noncombatants at
sea in time of war, the following are to be
deemed an established part of
international law;
<br><br>
(1) A merchant
vessel must be ordered to submit to visit and search to
determine its
character before it can be seized.
<br><br>
A merchant vessel must not be
attacked unless it refuse to submit to
visit and search after warning, or
to proceed as directed after seizure.
<br><br>
A merchant vessel must not be
destroyed unless the crew and passengers
have been first placed in
safety.
<br><br>
(2) Belligerent submarines are not under any circumstances
exempt from
universal rules above stated; and if a submarine can not
capture a merchant
vessel in conformity with these rules the existing law
of nations requires
it to desist from attack and from seizure and to permit
the merchant vessel
to proceed unmolested.
<br><br>
ARTICLE II <br>
The Signatory Powers invite an other civilized Powers to express
their
assent to the foregoing statement of established law so that may be a
clear
public understanding throughout the world of the standards of conduct
by
which the public opinion of the world is to pass judgment upon future
belligerents.
<br><br>
ARTICLE III<br>

The Signatory
Powers, desiring to insure the enforcement of the humane
rules of existing
law declared by them with respect to attacks upon and
the seizure and
destruction of merchant ships, further declare that any
person in the
service of any Power who shall violate any of those rules,
whether or not
such person is under orders of a governmental superior, shall
be deemed to
have violated the laws of war and shall be liable to trial
and punishment
as if for an act of piracy and may be brought to trial before
the civil or
military authorities of any power within the jurisdiction of
which he may
be found.
<br><br>
ARTICLE IV<br>

The Signatory Powers
recognize the practical impossibility of using submarines
as commerce
destroyers without violating, as they were violated in the recent
war of
1914-1918, the requirements universally accepted by civilized nations
for
the protection of the lives of neutrals and noncombatants, and to the
end
that the prohibition of the use of submarines as commerce destroyers
shall
be universally accepted as a part of the law of nations they now
accept
that prohibition as henceforth binding as between themselves and
they invite
all other nations to adhere thereto.
<br><br>
ARTICLE V<br>

The use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or
other gases, and all analogous
liquids, materials or devices, having been
justly condemned by the general
opinion of the civilized world and a
prohibition of such use having been
declared in treaties to which a
majority of the civilized Powers are parties,
<br><br>
The Signatory Powers,
to the end that this prohibition shall be universally
accepted as a part of
international law binding alike the conscience and
practice of nations,
declare their assent to such prohibition, agree to
be bound thereby as
between themselves and invite all other civilized nations
to adhere
thereto.
<br><br>
ARTICLE VI<br>

The present Treaty shall
be ratified as soon as possible in accordance
with the constitutional
methods of the Signatory Powers and shall take effect
on the deposit of all
the ratifications, which shall take place at Washington.<br><br>

The
Government of the United States will transmit to all the Signatory
Powers a
certified copy of the proces-verbal of the deposit of
ratifications.
<br><br>
The present Treaty, of which the French and English
texts are both authentic,
shall remain deposited in the Archives of the
Government of the United States
and duly certified copies thereof will be
transmitted by that Government
to each of the Signatory Powers.
<br><br>
ARTICLE VII<br>

The Government of the United States will
further transmit to each of
the Non-Signatory Powers a duly certified
copy of the present Treaty
and invite its adherence thereto.<br><br>

Any
Non-Signatory Power may adhere to the present Treaty by
communicating
an Instrument of Adherence to the Government of the United
States, which
will thereupon transmit to each of the Signatory and Adhering
Powers a certified
copy of each Instrument of Adherence.
<br><br>
In faith
whereof, the above named Plenipotentiaries have signed the
present
Treaty.
<br><br>
Done at the City of Washington, the sixth day of
February, one thousand
nine hundred and twenty-one.
<br><br>
[For the
United States of America: ] CHARLES EVANS HUGHES, HENRY CABOT
LODGE, OSCAR
W. UNDERWOOD<BR>
[For the United Kingdom: ] ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR LEE OF
FAREHAM, A. C. GEDDES<BR>
[For the Dominion of Canada:  R. L.
BORDEN<BR>
[For the Dominion of Australia: ] G. F. PEARCE<BR>
[For the
Dominion of New Zealand JOHN W. SALMOND<BR>
[For the Dominion of South
Africa: ]<BR>
V. S. SRINIVASA SASTRI<BR>
[For France: ] A. SARRAUT, JUSSERAND<BR>
[For Italy: ] CARLO SCHANZER, V. ROLANDI RlCCI, LUIGI ALBERTINI <BR>
[F
or Japan: ] T. KATO, K. SHIDEHARA, M. HANIHARA
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