Chapter III development of armaments. Speech of A cordial and sympathetic welcome was given to the request of the Imperial Government by all the Powers who are here represented. At the same time, notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which this proposition was received, the Russian Government considered it necessary to gather more definite information from the various Cabinets for the purpose of deciding whether the time was really favorable for the convocation of a Conference, of which the first object would properly be this restriction of armaments. The responses which were given to us, the acceptance of the programme sketched in the Circular of December 30, 1898, and in which the first point looked to the non-augmentation, for a fixed term, of the existing armies, led us to decide in favor of taking the initiative in the Peace Conference. It is thus, gentlemen, that we find ourselves united at The Hague, animated by a spirit of conciliation, in which our good will confronts a common work to be accomplished. "Let us examine the essential point which has been referred to this committee, it is the question of the limitation of budgets and of actual armaments. It seems to me indispensably necessary to insist that this important question should be made the subject of a most profound study, constituting, as it does, the first purpose for which we are here united, that of alleviating, as far as possible, the dreadful burden which weighs upon the peoples, and which hinders their material and even moral development. The forces of human activity are absorbed in an increas I ing proportion by the expenses of the military and Chapter III naval budgets. As General Den Beer Poortugael has said so eloquently, it is the most important functions of civilized governments which are paralyzed by this state of affairs, and which are thus relegated to the second place. Armed peace to-day causes more considerable expense than the most burdensome war of former times. If one of our great committees has been charged with the duty of alleviating or mitigating the horrors of war, it is to you, gentlemen, that the equally grand task has been assigned to alleviate the burdens of peace, especially those which result from incessant competition in the way of armaments. may be permitted to hope that on this point, at least, the desires of anxious populations who are following our labors with a constant interest shall not be balked. The disappointment would be cruel. It is for this reason that I ask you to give all of your attention to the proposition which the technical delegates of Russia will present to you. You will see that these propositions constitute in very truth a minimum. Is it necessary for me to declare that we are not speaking of Utopias or chimerical measures? We are not considering disarmament. What we are hoping for, is to attain a limitation- a halt in the ascending course of armaments and expenses. We propose this with the conviction that if such an agreement is established, progress in other directions will be made – slowly perhaps, but surely. Immobility is an impossibility in history, and if we shall only be able for some years to provide for a certain stability, every Chapter III thing points to the belief that a tendency toward a diminution of military charges will be able to grow and to develop. Such a movement would correspond entirely to the ideas which have inspired the Russian circulars. But we have not yet attained to this point. For the moment we aspire to the attainment of stability for a fixed limitation of the number of effectives and of military budgets." Russian proposals. General Den Beer Poortugael of Holland followed in a most eloquent and brilliant address, which was in the nature of a general exhortation and an elaboration of the ideas expressed by M. de Staal; whereupon Colonel Gilinsky of Russia presented the text of the two proposals submitted on behalf of the Russian Government, as follows: "I. As to armies: "1. An international agreement for the term of five years, stipulating for the non-augmentation of the present number of troops kept in time of peace. "2. The determination, in case of such an agreement, if it is possible, of the number of troops to be kept in time of peace by all of the Powers, not including Colonial troops. "3. The maintenance, for the term of five years, of the amount of the military budget in force at the present time. "II. As regards navies: "1. The acceptance in principle of fixing for a term of three years the amount of the naval budget, and an agreement not to increase the total amount Chapter III for this triennial period, and the obligation to publish during this period, in advance : "(a) The total tonnage of men-of-war which it is proposed to construct, without giving in detail the types of ships. "(b) The number of officers and crews in the navy. 66 "(c) The expenses of coast fortifications, including fortresses, docks, arsenals, etc." Colonel Colonel Gilinsky said that the programme of the Speech of Russian Government had in view two objects, the first was humanitarian, diminishing the possibility Russia. of war, and as far as possible its evils and calamities; the second was founded upon economic considerations, namely: to diminish so far as possible the enormous weight of pecuniary charges which all the nations are obliged to supply for the support of their armies in time of peace. With regard to the first object, the committees to which have been referred the questions of arbitration, good offices, the laws and usages of war, and the adaptation of the principles of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare, were now busily engaged; but Colonel Gilinsky, while hoping that their labors would be crowned with great success, asked whether the peoples represented at the Conference would be entirely satisfied if nothing whatever was done at the Conference to lift this heavy load which they were bearing in time of peace, and which was so enormous that open war had been considered almost Chapter III preferable to the indefinite continuance of such unbearable conditions. Speech of Colonel Gilinsky proceeded to examine the argument that the expenditure of money for the support of the army was a benefit to the country because the money was kept in the country; and he pointed out the difficulty of setting a limit to continued increase of armaments on the part of any country which considered itself in danger, except by virtue of an international agreement. He claimed that the Russian proposals were not in themselves novel, since they simply extended over the entire world principles which had been accepted in many of the countries here represented. In Germany the strength of the army was fixed every seven years: in Russia the military budget was fixed for a term of five years. The term might be shorter if the Conference so decided. "We suggest nothing new," he remarked, "except the decision and the courage to ascertain the facts, and to say that the time has come to call a halt. 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 twice as great a percentage or even more. There is thus no selfish interest in the Russian proposal. It is a purely humanitarian idea, and a proposition with an eco |