New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-30
THE COST TO TIE LOSERS.
WHAT THE vANoUIsHED IN WAR HAVE
TO PAY TO THE vICTORS.

W the ltnllleS mat are DerelNcC tnereDy--therN
comes moment which is still more difficult to
bear with resignation and fortitude 1t is the
moment Immediately after the cessation Of hos
tlities. when the excitement of the conflict Is
over and when the hour arrives for the
Queror to declare the terms which he will conde-
scend to accord to his defeated foe. The ig-
nominy of defeat is cruel enough in all con-
science for a hgh-spirited people to endure But
the trial becomes infinitely more bitter when
the top OF all the expenses entailed by putting
the army into the field and keeping il there at
an enormous cost for every day that the cam
PalSa lasts. the vanquished called upon TO
abandon to the victor the spos OF the war;
which nowadays usually take the form OF a
cession OF territory, OF the surrender Of ships
and last but not least, in the Tayrncnt OF what
is known Indemnity.
gust at the present moment when Turkey is
debating what terms she is TO impose upon
Greece as the cost OF peace which, had the
sultan wliied. need not have been concluded
until his troops had reached Athens it becomes
OF interest to recall briefly the conditions which
have been eNactcd by the conQuercrs from the
G. nqUered in previous wars. Some nations owe
their entire importance and greatness to the
treaties of peace which they have been able
70 impose upon States that were unfortunate
enough 70 quarrel with theri and to issue beaten
from the conflict Two Powers in particular are
c. Hspouous for this. namely. Great Britain and
and her development from petty electorate
first into a kingdom and then into a mighty en-
pre- are entirely due to wars OF conquest, and in
the same way Great Britain is indebted for
almost the greater portion of her immense CO.
lonial empire-thc principal source Of her gran
dcur-to treaties of peace in which the fortunes
or war enabled her to dictate the terms one
might also say that this nation owes its exis-
tence to a treaty of peace of this kind since
at any rate the nucleus of the country as now
constituted consisted 9f English colonies which
fought for their freedom, won It after a Ions,
struggle, and were able to impose their indie
pendence upon England the price OF their
victory.
Perhaps the most onerous terms ever imposed
by a con1ueror upon his defeated foe were those
to which Germany subjected France in 1871
at the close of the historic conflict that culmi-
mated in the capitulaton of Paris They con-
sisted OF the cession OF the major portion OF
Alsace and OF Lorraine, including the great
fortresses of Strasburg and of Metz and the
payment OF war indemnity amounting to the
colossal sum Of $1,000 100000 The entire civil
lied world was startled by the magnitude of the
sum, and very widespread doubts were ex-
pressed as TO whether poor France. which was
believed to he crushed beyond recovery would
ever be able to pay. But these apprehensions
proved to be unfounded and the billion OF dol
lars was paid with such rapidity and with
little apparent effort that Prince Bismarck and
the German authorities past and present have
never ceased TO lament ever since that they did
not stipulate for double the amount This in
demnty is worthy of especial notice, for the
reason that it greatly exceeded the actual ex-
pense to which Germany put by the war
and was therefore a punitive or moral and in
tellectual damage" indemnity, to some extent
such as Dom" Paul Kruger wants 10 collect
from England for the jameson Raid-but won't
In the war of 1SIO-'I1 the time twenty eight
weeks from the entrance of German troops into
French territory to the surrender OF Belfort.
The German troops engaged may be taken for
practical purposes. even million, the Off
cial figures of the active forces being ISL 900
al the commencement of the war and 937 900 al
its close The total German losses are placed
at 12S,OO0. the killed alone numbering $1,000.
Germany therefore received in cash $50 =
week for each mans services. or 5000 for each
man lost; on the whole, pretty good pay. But
Germany-Or Prussia-has a habit that way.
Only four years before the with France she
took $41. 80, 900 from Austria and her allies be
side $4,000 requsitioned during the cam
paign. This war lasted only a month. Prussia
had 431. 900 men in the field and lost | 900 The
indemnity gave her SD a week for each mans
services or $3.50 for each man lost How
ever. it enormously expensive war for
Prussia. costing her some $115 900 600 SO that
the indemnity did not make her balance good
1t is thanks to the Intervention of Russia that