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HAGAR Ha′gar, Stansbury, a distinguished ethnologist and an authority upon Peruvian astronomy, was born in 1869 in San Francisco. He graduated in 1892 from Yale and in 1897 from New York, University. He is a member of many scientific societies.  Ha′gerstown, Md., the capital of Washington County, twenty miles north of Harper's Ferry, in the northwestern part of Maryland. It is situated on Antietam Creek, in the Cumberland Valley, and several railroads pass through the town. It is an old and well-settled region, peopled to some extent by well-to-do Germans or by those of German descent. It has a number of fine public buildings, including a free public library and an academy of music. Its industries embrace the manufacture of flour, furniture, cigars, fertilizers, machinery and agricultural implements. Population 16,507.   Hag′gard, Henry Rider, an English novelist of note, was born June 22, 1856, at Bradenham Hall, Norfolk. He was educated at Ipswich, and in 1875 went as private secretary of Sir Henry Bulwer to Natal, South Africa. Later, he was private secretary to Sir T. Shepstone, commissioner to the Transvaal, and still later was made master of the high court of the Transvaal. In 1879 he returned to England and began his literary career. In 1882 Cetewayo and His White Neighbors was published, and in 1884 his first novel, Dawn, appeared, and The Witch's Head in 1885. The publication of King Solomon's Mines, 1886, gave him wide celebrity, and this was followed by She and Jess in 1887. Among his later novels may be mentioned Allan Quatermain, Cleopatra, Ayesha and The Heart of the World. He was, while he followed his peculiar vein, regarded as a master of the weird and fantastic in fiction. Of recent years he has taken a deep interest in all rural problems, and has written Rural England, a standard work upon English agriculture, and The Poor and the Land. In 1905 he visited the United States, as a British government commissioner, for the purpose of investigating the problems of land-settlement and labor-colonies. He is a member of the royal commission on coast erosion.  Ha′ggart, Hon. John G.—born in Perth, Ontario, 1836. Elected to the House of Commons in 1872 and re-elected at each election since. Became postmaster-general in the Macdonald government in 1888.

Became minister of railways in 1892 in the Abbott ministry. Held the same portfolio in the Thompson, Bowell and Tupper administrations. Resigned in 1896. Still a member of the House of Commons.  Hague Peace Conference, a body of delegates or representatives of the various civilized nations who met at The Hague, Holland, to consider the subject of the promotion of international peace. The conference was called at the suggestion of the emperor of Russia, and met in May, 1899. Twenty-six of the states of the world were represented. Baron de Staël of Russia was made president. The idea and purpose of the conference were new. The sessions were secret, and no authentic account of the proceedings has ever been given. Much was expected of it by the philanthropists of the world, but the results were disappointing, since the conference seemed, by the light of later events, but the signal for the beginning of a series of wars. Russia's proposals for compulsory arbitration and the reduction of existing armaments were not adopted. England and the United States were mainly together in the scheme of arbitration finally adopted, which was voluntary in its plan. On the whole the Hague Peace Conference was not immediately productive of results beyond its significance as an evidence of the willingness of the nations to discuss together the subject of an universal peace. The delegates from the United States were Andrew D. White, ambassador to Germany; Stanford Newel, minister to the Netherlands; Capt. William Crozier, U. S. army; Capt. A. T. Mahan (retired), U. S. navy; President Seth Low, Columbia University; F. W. Holls, of New York, secretary of the delegation. A permanent court of arbitration was agreed upon, the members of the same to be appointed by the various governments interested.

A second peace conference was held at The Hague, June 15 to Oct. 19, 1907, at which forty-six powers, including Latin America and Norway, were represented by delegates. As in the case of the first conference, not all that was hoped for was accomplished. The establishment of obligatory arbitration and a standing court of arbitral justice, which were urged by thirty-nine nations, including England, France and the United States, failed through the opposition of Germany, backed by Austria, Italy and a few others. The most important results accomplished were the establishment of a prize-court; the extension of the provisions of the Geneva convention to war at sea; the prohibition of the collection of public debts by force until after arbitration shall have been refused or an arbitral reward set at naught; regulations concerning bombardments and submarine mines; and a declaration in favor of arbitration. 