Germany’s moral obligation had an additional express confirmation.
The second International Peace Conference was held at The Hague in 1907. There were present the representatives of forty-four nations, thus making as near an approach to the poet’s dream of the “federation of the world” and the “parliament of man” as has yet been possible in the slow progress of mankind.
That convention agreed upon a certain declaration of principles, and among the signatures appended to the document was the representative of His Majesty, the German Emperor.
They agreed upon certain principles of international morality, most of them simply declaratory of the uncodified international law then existing, and these were subsequently ratified by formal treaties of the respective governments, including Germany, which were deposited in the archives of The Hague. While this treaty as an express covenant was not binding, unless all belligerents signed it, yet, it recognized an existing moral obligation. The Hague Peace Conference proceeded to define the rights of neutral powers, and in so doing simply reaffirmed the existing international law.
The pertinent parts of this great compact, with reference to the sanctity of neutral territory, are as follows: