The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-08-01

8ros9s
Some days ago we learned that circulars
had been addressed by the Cabinet Of st.
Petersburg to the other leading European
Powers requesting an International Congress
to consider the propriety of abandoning the
use Of explosive bullets in time of war. 1t
now appears, judging from cable despatch
published on Thursday, that this Congress is
requested to hold its first meeting in St.
Petersburg on the 10th of August, and that
1t will be composed Of thirteen members,
representatives of the different European gov
ernments.
No one who takes an interest in modern
progress can be Indifferent to such q plan.
1t Is notorious that the science of war has
OF late years become destructive of human
life to an extent almost beyond calcula-
tion-so destructive, indeed, that the friends
and lovers of peace had no other GER
tainly no higher, consolation than this:
that war in the long run would de-
stroy itself-in other words, that the imple-
ments of war, by their very destructiveness,
would make war, If not impossible, at least of
rare occurrence. It was not their hope that
an attempt to amelorate the horrors of war
would originate in that order which from time
lmmemorial has reaped all the advantages of
war. Who would have believed fifty or even
twenty-five years ago that the Gear of all the
Russias would have taken the initiative in hu-
manizing the art of war? How few! Such,
however, is the fact; and to that Power in
Europe which, rightly or wrongly, has been
regarded as the most barbaric must be &C
corded the honor of having initiated one of
the most humane, certainly one of the most
characteristic and suggestive, movements of
the nineteenth century.
We trust that the congress will meet, that
all the Powers, great and small, will be
represented and that the result will be
such as we have a right to expect
There can be no difficulty in settling the explo-
sive bullet question. We may take it for
granted that the use of the explosive bullet
will be abandoned. When, however, that is
settled is it possible for congress of govern
ment humanitarians to separate without taking
up other and cognate questions? The Mimic
rifle, the Chassepot, the Schneider and the other
guns are all as much and as intimately con-
nected with the horrors of war as are explosive
bullets and for such congress to make its
work complete all these weapons ought to be
taken into consideration and some definite con-
clusion come to as to when and how they
ought to be used. We cannot 60 back to the
bow and arrow of early ages or to the dart
and knife of the savage of the present day;
but to make war fair and just we can pre-
scribe the terms on which it shall be con-
Quoted 1t would not be difficult for France
to swallow up Belgium on the one hand and
Switzerland on the other; but strength is not
justice, and France, with due regard to the
public sentiment of the world, refrains from
swallowing up either. War, in fact, is no
longer fair. The time was when the Horatii and
the Curiatii could decide national question
by hand to hand combat; but that time is no
more. Might has become right just as truly
as it was in the darkest and most barbarous
times. 1t may be hard for this Congress to
fix the terms on which war shall be con-
Quoted. Few great works are easily per-
formed The difficulty Of the task should not,
therefore, deter them.
One thing, at least, this congress might do
1t might make it imperative that no war take
place between any of the great Powers until
the difficulties in question had been submitted
to an international congress. Such decision
would be worth ten thousand decisions on ex-
plosive bullets or on any of the implements of
war; 1t might not make war an impossibility,
but it would reduce the chances of war to
minimum If it did not satisfy the parties at
feud it could not fail to create public senti-
ment which would in the long run settle the
question at issue and settle it justly. If this
congress does assemble, particularly if it does
its work well, it will be to us one of the most
hopeful signs of the approaching millennium,
when swords are to be beat into ploughshares
and spears into pruning hooks. We wish the
Emperor of all the Russias success in his
praiseworthy undertaking.
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