Aankomst der vredesconferentie te Haarlem, 4 juni 1899

Summary

Reportage about the visit that the delegates to the First Peace Conference at The Hague made to the floral parade in Haarlem.

The First Peace Conference at The Hague took place from May 18 to July 29, 1899. Its initiator was the Russian Tsar Nicholas II. Although the original goal – a treaty on disarmament – was not reached, other treaties were indeed agreed upon, for example a ban on the use of poison gas and the dropping of bombs from balloons.

Representatives from 26 countries were present at the conference. The group, consisting of 175 guests, made a special train trip to Haarlem on June 4, where they visited the floral parade and the Frans Hals Museum. Among the guests were Minister of Foreign Affairs W.H. de Beaufort, Minister Jang-Ju (China), General Zuccari (Italy), Baron de Staal (Russia), and Mehemed Nourey Bey (Turkey).

The footage was shot by the Anglo-French cameraman Emile Lauste, who shot a number of films in the Netherlands for the British Mutoscope and Biograph Company and its Dutch affiliate the Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij. In September of 1899, he again came to the Netherlands to shoot a second series of films.