VIII.
SESSION OF NOVEMBER 1, 1884.
The Conference met at the call of the President for the approval of the protocols, as arranged at the last meeting, in the Diplomatic Hall of the Department of State, at 1 o'clock p. m.
The President having called the Conference to order, said: The protocols in French and English, having been examined by the Secretaries of the Conference, have been submitted to all of the delegates for perusal. If any delegate should desire to make any observation on them the opportunity is now given for his doing so.
Rustem Effendi, Delegate of Turkey, stated that he desired to change his vote on the fifth resolution of the Final Act, providing for the commencement of the universal day, from the affirmative to the negative.
No objection being made, the change was ordered to be made.
The President then said: No further observations having been made on the protocols, they will now be signed by the Secretaries and the President.
Mr. de Struve, Delegate of Russia. Before the Conference terminates, I beg to express, in the name of my colleagues, our sincere gratitude for the hospitality extended to the Conference by the Government of the United States, and I beg to express our heartiest thanks to you, Mr. President, for the able and impartial manner in which you have presided over our deliberations. When we elected you, we unanimously elected the first Delegate of the United States. If we had to begin again, the personal feelings of all the delegates would supply powerful additional reasons for making the election equally unanimous.
Mr. de Struve's observation met with the unanimous approval of the Delegates.