The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; French: Union Interparlementaire…
June 1889 CE
Initially, the conference, held on June 28 and 29, is for individual parliamentarians, but will later transform into an international organization of the parliaments of sovereign states.
In 1887, Passy and Cremer had petitioned their respective parliaments to support arbitration treaties between their country and the United States.
Passy had amassed one hundred and twelve signatures from French parliamentarians, supported in his efforts by Jules Simon and Georges Clemenceau.
A year later in November 1888, Cremer led a delegation of nine MPs to meet with twenty-five French Deputies to discuss working together.
This meeting forms the first Inter-parliamentary Conference (later the Inter-parliamentary Union) in 1889, attended by such prominent politicians as Léon Bourgeois and Jean Jaures, with Passy serving as president.
Cremer, using his platform as an MP, has cultivated allies on both continental Europe and across the Atlantic, including Passy, William Jennings Bryan and Andrew Carnegie.
Using his network of contacts and his talent for organization, Cremer does much to create and expand institutions for international arbitration, which during his lifetime will be successful in peacefully resolving numerous international disputes.
This work includes co-founding the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Arbitration League, and gaining acceptance for the 1897 Olney–Pauncefote Treaty between the United States and Britain that would have required arbitration of major disputes as the Essequibo territory (the treaty is rejected by the US Senate and never goes into effect).