The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-08
Treaty-Making Takes Time.

Treaty Making Takes Time.
The complaint which is heard in some
quarters because peace negotiations at
Paris are not terminated off-hand rests
upon ignorance of historical precedcnts
as well as upon unfamiliarity with
diplomatic traditions, which we as well
as Spain are bound TO observe.
1t is recalled by the Philadelphia
Press that Yorktown surrendered in our
Revolutionary war Oct. Il, 1881, and
with this defeat both sides accepted
peace as certain, just as both parties
to the present war accepted the sur
render of Santiago as of like sgnif-
canoe. yet the preliminaries of the
treaty of peace, or protocol, We're not
signed until Nov. 80. 1882, and the treaty
itself was not ratified until April ;, 1888,
lapse of eighteen months from the
deciding defeat. In the war of 1912 the
Bramble came into Annapolis with
peace overtures Jan. 6. 1914, the peace
commissioners met at Ghent Aug. S,
the Dreliminaries were finally signed
Dec. "a and the treaty was not brought
to this country on II. i. NJ. S. the Fa-
voritc until April II. 1915, and ratified
Arril II, fifteen months after the first
step toward peace. and more than
three months after the battle of New
Orleans. With Mexico, the British
minister proposed an armistice Aug.
20. 1Si7; negotiations began Aug. -:
the treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo was
concluded Feb. >. 1S4S; it was not rati-
fed until March 10. and by Mexico May
"a. and it was not proclaimed until
July 4, 1S4S. our troops having cvacuat-
ed the city of Mexico June l., 1SiS In
all, Just short of eleven months were
needed for peace with weak and
bankrupt power whose capital our
troops had occupied.
Our contemnOrary shows moreover
an equal dilatoriness in the negotia-
tons Of European nations for peace
In the Crimean war SebastoDol was
taken sept $, 1855; Austria presented
the first proposals for peace which
both sides accepted Dec Il, 1855; the
protocol was signed Feb. /, 1856 the
treaty March 30, 1856, and the congress
of Paris, which decided the various
points involved, sat until April 30, and
the trimca was not evacuated until
july Q, so that year less two months
passed from the day peace was certain
Until the allied troops left Russian soil.
In the Franco-Italian war, where the
whole matter was arranged between
two emperors with practically uncon-
trOlled power, an armistice was reached
July 6, 1859, and the peace commits
sioners sat at Zurich from August to
November before the details of the
agreement reached at Villafranca We're
completed. After negotiations for
peace during hOstilitlcs beginning Feb.
%, 1864, Denmark, Austria and Prussia
reached an armistice July is, but it was
not until three and Il half months later,
oct. 80, that the treaty of Vienna was
signed In the Franco Prussian war
the first negotiations began Jan. "a,
1871; the preliminaries We're signed Feb.
26 and the treaty of Frankfort was not
signed until nearly three months later.
May lo' ScINld anu L turkey were from
Nov. /, 1876 to March l. 1877, in reach
ing a treaty of peace, or four months
after the armistice. PleVna, in the war
between Russia ana Turkey, was sur
rendered Dec. TO- 1877; an armistice
was agreed upon Jan. 81, 1878: the first
treaty of peace was signed at San Ste
fanO. March S, but the Berlin congress
was still needed to adjust the final re-
sults OF the conflict, lasting from June
Is tC July Il, AMI the final treaty of
IeaCc between Turkey and Russia was
not signed until Feb. S, 1879, over a
year after the armistice. Even two lit
tie powers like SerVia and Bulgaria
We're from Nov 2S, 1885, to March Is,
1856, before n treaty was made over
their short war, Japan, in 1895, wa.
within marching distance of the ;nc
ny's capital, Pcking, but almost three
months We're needed from the FIRST
meeting of commissioners, Feb. IS, 1895
10 the treaty signed May s. 1895.
There is no just ground for the asser-
ton that our peace commissioners at
Paris are moving too slowly Spain
has absolute knowledge that they are
moving very rapidly as such things go.