hink,
therefore, as Chairman, that I will pursue the rule in force in this
country, and, unless the Conference order otherwise, shall present the
amendment which is the last offered.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain. Mr. Chairman, the Spanish
Minister has not referred to the most important amendment, but to the
most radical. For instance, here there are several propositions to
select a meridian; one of them must be considered, and it seems to me
that my amendment, which is the most radical, is the one to be first
presented to the Conference.

The PRESIDENT. Unless the Conference shall direct otherwise, the Chair
must pursue the principle on which it has acted hitherto, taking the
amendments in the order in which they are offered, and presenting them
inversely for the action of the Conference. The proposition before the
Conference, therefore, is the amendment offered by the Delegate of
Spain, Mr. ARBOL, which is as follows:

"Having accepted the meridian of Greenwich to account the
longitudes, as a general need for practical purposes, but
thinking that the introduction of any new system of
time-reckoning is far more scientific and important, and
liable to great difficulties and confusion in the future, we
propose the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, The Congress, taking in consideration that
there is already a meridian tacitly accepted by almost all
the civilized nations as the origin of dates, the
anti-meridian of Rome, abstains from designating any other
meridian to reckon the universal time."

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain. It is proposed to introduce an
absolute universal or cosmopolitan system of time-reckoning, which, it
is hoped, will, at a more or less distant day, be generally adopted,
not only for scientific purposes, but for all the ordinary purposes of
life for which it can possibly be used; and it is further proposed to
designate a meridian at which this cosmopolitan time-reckoning is to
begin. What I have to state is, that this method of absolute
time-reckoning already exists, (although we do not use it,) as does
this universal meridian which has been tacitly chosen by almost all
civilized nations--that is to say, by all such as have adopted the
Julian calendar, with or without the Gregorian correction. Thus it is
that anything involving even a slight modification of our present
system is nothing more than a chronological reform,