cult, if not impossible, under a continuance of his Chapter I régime. system. With his death, on July 30, 1898, his own countrymen as well as the world at large felt that an important chapter of European history had closed. The system of "Blood and Iron" had accomplished its work. A generation had grown to manhood who An outlived had never seen a great European war, and whose knowledge of problems which permitted of none but a bloody solution was derived solely from study and tradition. The insecure, burdensome, and wasteful character of the existing so-called "guarantees of peace" could no longer escape discussion and unanswerable demonstration.' The first manifestations of a Far Eastern problem of world-wide significance threw a specially lurid light upon the useless and dangerous divisions with which the civilized powers 1 The most important example of this fact is the remarkable volume of Dr. Eugen Schlief, Der Friede in Europa, eine völkerrechtliche Studie, published in 1892. Combining profound learning with sound judgment and common sense, the author of this book, to which reference will repeatedly be made hereafter, not only demonstrates the practicability of substituting an International Federation for Justice, for the unstable equilibrium of universal armaments, but almost prophetically forecasts the calling and, to a great extent, the results of the Peace Conference. He even suggests (p. 490) the initiative of Russia, and his discussion of the political problems involved shows statesmanlike insight and diplomatic tact. The remarkable speech of the Emperor Francis Joseph of AustriaHungary to the Delegations, iu November, 1891, quoted in Schlief's book, p. 134, may also be cited as an expression which would hardly have been made during Prince Bismarck's continuance in power, and which was in direct contradiction to the "barracks-philosophy" referred to above. Chapter 1 were confronting a situation fraught with grave possibilities. In seemingly hopeless darkness the world anxiously awaited a sign of the dawn of another and a better era, and in the fulness of time it came. Text of the THE RESCRIPT OF THE RUSSIAN EMPEROR At the regular weekly reception of the diplomatic representatives accredited to the Court of St. Petersburg, held at the Foreign Office in that city on Wednesday, August 24 (12th, old style), 1898, each visitor was surprised to receive from Count Mouravieff, the Russian Foreign Minister, a lithographed communication, which read as follows: "The maintenance of general peace, and a possible reduction of the excessive armaments which weigh upon all nations, present themselves in the existing condition of the whole world, as the ideal towards which the endeavors of all Governments should be directed. "The humanitarian and magnanimous ideas of His Majesty the Emperor, my August Master, have been won over to this view. In the conviction that this lofty aim is in conformity with the most essential interests and the legitimate views of all Powers, the Imperial Government thinks that the present moment would be very favorable for seeking, by means of international discussion, the most effectual means of insuring to all peoples the benefits of a real and durable peace, and, above all, of putting an end to the progressive development of the present Chapter I armaments. "In the course of the last twenty years the longings for a general appeasement have become especially pronounced in the consciences of civilized nations. The preservation of peace has been put forward as the object of international policy; in its name great States have concluded between themselves powerful alliances; it is the better to guarantee peace that they have developed, in proportions hitherto unprecedented, their military forces, and still continue to increase them without shrinking from any sacrifice. 66 "All these efforts nevertheless have not yet been able to bring about the beneficent results of the desired pacification. The financial charges following an upward march strike at the public prosperity at its very source. "The intellectual and physical strength of the nations, labor and capital, are for the major part diverted from their natural application, and unproductively consumed. Hundreds of millions are devoted to acquiring terrible engines of destruction, which, though to-day regarded as the last word of science, are destined to-morrow to lose all value in consequence of some fresh discovery in the same. field. National culture, economic progress, and the production of wealth are either paralyzed or checked in their development. Moreover, in proportion as the armaments of each Power increase so do they less Text of the Chapter I Text of the and less fulfill the object which the Governments have set before themselves. "The economic crises, due in great part to the system of armaments à l'outrance, and the continual danger which lies in this massing of war material, are transforming the armed peace of our days into a crushing burden, which the peoples have more and more difficulty in bearing. It appears evident, then, that if this state of things were prolonged, it would inevitably lead to the very cataclysm which it is desired to avert, and the horrors of which make every thinking man shudder in advance. "To put an end to these incessant armaments and to seek the means of warding off the calamities which are threatening the whole world, such is the supreme duty which is to-day imposed on all States. "Filled with this idea, His Majesty has been pleased to order me to propose to all the Governments whose representatives are accredited to the Imperial Court, the meeting of a conference which would have to occupy itself with this grave problem. "This conference should be, by the help of God, a happy presage for the century which is about to open. It would converge in one powerful focus the efforts of all States which are sincerely seeking to make the great idea of universal peace triumph over the elements of trouble and discord. "It would, at the same time, confirm their agreement by the solemn establishment of the principles of justice and right, upon which repose the security of States and the welfare of peoples." British Among the representatives who received this com- Chapter I munication on that day was Sir Charles Scott, Her Report of the Britannic Majesty's Ambassador in St. Petersburg, Ambassador. who in his despatch to Lord Salisbury, dated the following day, gives the following substance of the remarks of Count Mouravieff made at the time: "Count Mouravieff begged me to remark that this eloquent appeal, which he had drawn up at the dictation of the Emperor, did not invite a general disarmament, as such a proposal would not have been likely to be generally accepted as a practical one at present, nor did His Imperial Majesty look for an immediate realization of the aims he had so much at heart, but desired to initiate an effort, the effects of which could only be gradual. "His Excellency thought that the fact that the initiative of this peaceful effort was being taken by the Sovereign of the largest military Power, with resources for increasing its military strength unrestricted by Constitutional and Parliamentary limitations, would appeal to the hearts and intelligence of a very large section of the civilized world, and show the discontented and disturbing classes of society that powerful military Governments were in sympathy with their desire to see the wealth of their countries utilized for productive purposes, rather than exhausted in a ruinous and, to a great extent, useless competition for increasing the powers of destruction. 66 "I observed, in reply, that it would be difficult to remain insensible to the noble sentiments which had inspired this remarkable document, which I would |