Page images
PDF
EPUB

It is impossible, then, to get along without armies and navies, but there is no need to exaggerate; there are limits to everything, and we have already passed them a long time ago.

If I have said that the States are hastening inevitably to their ruin it is because, the more their armed forces increase, military budgets swallow billions, peoples are crushed under the weight of taxes, the States are dragged more and more over the steep of the abyss into which they will finally perish; they are exhausting and ruining themselves.

This exhaustion may become so great that at the supreme moment, when the State must enter the lists to safeguard its honor or defend its independence, at that moment the sinews of war (money) will be wanting.

This ruin is beginning with the poorest States, the most indebted ones, it will end by attacking the others. There is no nation, however rich it may be, which, in the long run, can avoid it.

In truth, this incessant increase in armies, fleets, budgets, debts, seems to be found in the depths of the box of Pandora or to be the unlucky gift of the wicked fairy who desires the unhappiness of Europe. Europe seems to be the prey of an access of fever in which each wishes to surpass his neighbor; each one believes that he is obliged to follow, if another recommences.

From this precaution to guarantee peace, there will result war.

The augmentation of effective forces and of expenses will be the true cause [23] of war; pretexts abound.

How avoid this fatal destiny?

Many wishes have found expression; philosophers, savants, specialists have suggested their schemes. Everything thus far tried has been in vain.

But now is heard the voice of one of the great on earth, that of the powerful monarch of the Russian Empire. Perceiving all the miseries, understanding the mournful consequences that these continual increases must lead to, the august sovereign has made an appeal to the friendship and conscience of the nations; he has pointed out the remedy, that is to say, an agreement stipulating only nonaugmentation, for a limited time, of the present effective forces and military budgets.

In limiting himself to the status quo, in not asking a reduction of forces, nor a final nor partial disarmament, the Emperor seems to have wished to disarm the opposition in advance.

I know all the difficulties that exist, but we military men know, too, that there is none that is insurmountable; we have always learned that to will is to be able.

To our Governments, bound together by the cords of our military organizations, like Alpine tourists, the Czar has said: "Let us make a united effort, let us halt on this edge of the abyss, if not, we shall perish!"

Let us halt! Gentlemen, it is for us to make this supreme effort; it is worth. the labor :

Let us hold fast.

General Gilinsky takes the floor and says:

The program of the Russian Government has in view two objects:

The first is humanitarian; it is to put off the possibility even of war and to

diminish as much as possible its evils and calamities.

The second is founded on economic considerations: to diminish as much as

possible the enormous weight of pecuniary charges which all nations find themselves obliged to bear for the up-keep of armies in time of peace.

With regard to the first task, the Commissions in charge of the questions of arbitration, good offices, the laws and customs of war on land, the adaptation to maritime warfare of the principles of the Geneva Convention, are now engaged in considering them.

I hope that their work will be crowned with success, but it is allowable to ask, gentlemen: Will the peoples represented in this Conference be entirely satisfied if, in going hence, we take them arbitration and laws of warfare, but nothing for times of peace, for this armed peace which is so heavy a burden on the nations, which crushes them to that point where it can be sometimes said that open war would perhaps be better than this state of secret war, this incessant competition in which all the world pushes forward larger and larger armies, larger now in time of peace than they used to be in time of greatest warfare?

The various countries have engaged in war only once in every twenty or thirty years.

But this armed peace lasts for decades, precedes war and follows it; it is that which threatens the ruin of nations by the enormous size of the armies in times of peace, the continual increase of effective forces and the frequent changes in armament.

It has been remarked to me, that although armies have considerably increased, populations have done so too, and therefore the rate of the expenditures bears on a greater number of contributors. But is it not true that armies are increasing out of proportion with the increase of population, that life has become dearer and that the support of the soldier and his armament is to-day much more onerous?

Indeed, this war budget at the present time swallows a great part of the receipts of a country and the support of troops in times of peace is becoming too heavy a burden. I have heard it said, too, that the money spent for making changes in armaments stays in the country. This is perhaps true for the countries that themselves manufacture their cannon and guns; for other nations this money goes out of the country.

But, even for countries so happily situated, is it a real advantage for the whole population, for all the contributors, even though in spending the money for manufacture of arms they may console themselves with the fact that the money stays in the country? So be it, if cash is paid. But suppose in order to manufacture the new arms a new loan is made even in the interior of the country? The artisan has received his money, the workman his wages, but the operation is not yet finished for the people, the debt remains, and everybody, peasants and artisans, workmen and property holders are obliged during long years to pay this debt until its liquidation, to pay the interest on it, the [24] total of which exceeds in thirty or forty years the amount of the original

debt. No, gentlemen, when we look into this question frankly, we cannot deny that the development of armaments is the ruin of nations. And the nations. understand it well. Accordingly, numerous proofs of sympathy for the Peace Conference and cordial wishes have been addressed by the peoples of different countries to the august initiator of this Conference.

Besides, the continual increase of the armed forces does not attain its end, for the ratio between the forces of different countries always remains the same. Some Government increases its troops that are supported in time of peace, or

forms new battalions; its neighbor follows immediately its example and reinforces its army to the extent necessary to preserve the ratio; the neighbor of the neighbor does likewise, and so on; the effective force is increased, but the ratios between the forces of the different nations always remain about the same.

In the territorial army, in reserve, it is still the same. Different means are employed; some diminish the number of years that the soldier is kept under the flag, others increase the number of years that the soldier stays in reserve; but it all tends to the same end and brings the same result: the ratio between the armed forces of the different States is unaltered.

Those are the considerations that have given my august sovereign and the Russian Government the idea of proposing an agreement, having in view to put a stop, if only for some time, to the rapid increase in armaments.

We suggest nothing new. Fixing effective forces and war budgets is practised in some countries and has been for a long time.

Thus, in Germany, the total of the troops in time of peace is fixed for from five to seven years. In Russia, the war budget is also fixed for five years. We are dealing then, with a known procedure, which has been practised for a long time, which frightens nobody and which gives good results; we may adopt them for a shorter time if you so desire, by way of trial. The only thing new here is the decision and the courage to say that it is time to stop. Russia proposes this to you; she invites you to set a limit to the further increase of military forces at a moment when she herself is far from having attained the maximum in this development, for we Russians do not call upon more than twenty-six to twentynine and one-half per cent of our young men to enter the ranks, whereas other States require as great a percentage or even more.

There is, thus, no selfish interest in the Russian proposal; it is an idea, a proposal of a purely humanitarian kind and with an economic feature which you can entertain and discuss in absolute confidence.

The program which is submitted to your discussion is the Russian program. We cannot discuss another because no other program has been presented by the Governments which have accepted the invitation to the Conference. But within the limits of the Russian program every proposal of another country, facilitating an agreement, would certainly be welcome. The proposition which is submitted to you is not yet a formula upon which it only remains to vote.

The circular of January 12 says this clearly: it is one of the subjects "submitted to international discussion in the Conference." Therefore we have at first to discuss it, to hear proposals and ideas of other Governments in order to find later a formula to vote upon. We are not speaking here absolutely of diminishing the total of troops that at present exist, but merely of not increasing it, for a certain time, by way of trial.

There is no question of putting obstacles before Governments in the matter of organizing their troops or of preventing the creation of new units since one can organize while diminishing the effective forces of the existing units without increasing the total of the troops. I again repeat, that we are here dealing with not increasing the total number of the troops now existing, and this for a short time and by way of trial in order to find out if it would be possible later, in a subsequent conference, to make the same proposal for a long time.

As to the reduction of effective forces, I beg you, gentlemen, to forget completely this second subject during the discussion of the first, primarily, because it would be possible to discuss it only in case an agreement should be had on the

first subject: on the non-augmentation during a certain time of the total number of troops existing to-day.

And even in this case, the discussion of the second subject in this Conference would only be academical: "preliminary examination," as the circular says, "of the means by which a reduction might be effected in future." It would, then, only be an exchange of ideas which would serve as bases for the Government in studying these questions destined for discussion, perhaps, in a later Conference.

For the present Conference, gentlemen, we find ourselves confronted with [25] questions and proposals that are entirely realizable and with a decision that is becoming more and more urgent.

The idea of the Emperor of Russia is grand and generous. Misunderstood at first, it now commands the approval of all peoples; for the people have at last understood that this idea has in view nothing but peace and prosperity for all. The seed has fallen into fruitful soil: the human mind is aroused; it is working to make the seed germinate, and I am sure that it will soon bear beautiful fruit. If not this first Conference, then a later Conference will accept the idea, for it responds to a necessity, to the want of nations. We are the first, gentlemen, called to cultivate this idea, to solve the problem; let us not yield this honor to others, let us make a supreme effort; in devoting good-will and confidence to it, we shall, I hope, arrive at an understanding that is so ardently desired by all the nations.

The Commission decided that these four speeches should be printed in the summary proceedings.

The propositions offered by Colonel Gilinsky, delegate of Russia, respecting the means of putting a limit to the development of future armaments, are expressed as follows:

1. An international agreement for a term of five years, stipulating the nonincrease of the present number of troops maintained in time of peace in each mother country.

2. The determination, in case of this agreement, if it is possible, of the number of troops to be maintained in time of peace by all the Powers, not including colonial troops.

3. The maintenance, for the same term of five years, of the size of the military budgets in force at the present time.

Colonel Künzli asks the assembly to refer to a future meeting the examination of the important propositions that Colonel Gilinsky has just formulated in the name of the Russian Government.

The first delegate of Persia, General Mirza Riza Khan, ARFA-UD-DOVLEH, pronounces the following discourse:

During the Conference so many and such eloquent addresses have been delivered that it would seem venturesome on my part to take the floor in a language that is not my own.

The Russian Government having done Persia the honor of inviting it to take part in the Peace Conference and to send a representative thereto, and His Imperial Majesty the Shah, my august sovereign, having deigned to choose me to undertake this honorable mission, the newspapers in Russia and in Sweden, especially those of St. Petersburg and Stockholm (to both of which countries I am accredited), have greeted my appointment with sympathetic articles and the more so because I belong so little to the world of letters. As to the journals of my own country they have expressed the warmest sentiments.

All these marks of interest impose upon me the duty of adding also on my side some words to the support of the great cause which is that of all humanity and with which we have here to deal. To all the praises of which the humanitarian aim of the circular of Count MOURAVIEFF has been the object, I can add nothing. But, on the other hand, critics have arisen; they have gone to the length of attributing motives of selfishness to the generous initiative of which the circular is the result.

Having the honor of personally knowing His Majesty Emperor NICHOLAS II, whose noble and kind sentiments I have been able to appreciate, I am happy to firmly declare here that all the proposals of the Russian Government emanate from the magnanimous heart of its sovereign. It is without flattery or reservation that I make this declaration. Permit me, gentlemen, to cite to you a proof of his noble and elevated sentiments.

In the first year after my appointment to the post of representative of Persia at the Russian Court, I was accompanying on my horse the Emperor who was going from the Winter Palace to the Field of Mars to be present at the review which took place on the eve of the departure of the Emperor for Moscow, where he was going to be crowned. As I was somewhat ill that day, I fainted and slipped from my horse.

The Emperor, seeing this, stopped his brilliant cortege and did not continue. on his way until I had been put in a carriage. During the review he several times sent his aides-de-camp to learn of my condition.

Our celebrated poet Saadi has thus expressed himself in describing pride: "Its glance is like that of a king who causes his army to pass before him.”

The young Emperor, an autocrat of 26 years of age, who, for the first time, after his accession to the throne, was passing in review a brilliant army of 30,000 men, did not, in that moment of legitimate pride, forget an accident [26] that had just happened to a stranger. Indeed, he who acts thus can not be selfish, and his acts, the initiative that he has taken for this Conference, can only proceed from a good and noble heart.

On the reception of the delegates of the Conference at the Hague Palace, you were able to see how much Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands was interested in our work and in the result that might be hoped from it.

Gentlemen, let us fulfil our duty before the civilized world, and not discourage Their Majesties the young Queen WILHELMINA and the young Emperor NICHOLAS II. With all my heart I wish that the high initiative of the Emperor and the good wishes of the Queen may be crowned with success for the welfare of our prosperity.

At the request of the president, the technical delegate of the Imperial Russian Navy, Captain Scheine, files with the office the text of his propositions relative to naval armaments. They are couched in these terms:

To accept the principle of determining, for a period of three years, the size of the naval budget with an agreement not to increase the total sum during this triennial period, and the obligation to publish in advance during the same period

1. The total tonnage of war-ships, which it is proposed to construct, without defining the types of the ships themselves;

2. The number of officers and men in the navy;

3. The expenses of coast fortifications, including forts, docks, arsenals, etc. The meeting adjourns.

« PreviousContinue »