Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-09-03
70 PREVENT " AIRS
Il Startling Proposal From the
Gar Of Russia.
he URGES A CONFERENCE
To Discuss the Need For Reduction
in Armament.
A CONSTANT MENACE TO PEACE.

A CONSTANT MENACE TO PEACE.
1he Cars Note to the Powers Declares
That the Continual Danger Which Lies
in This Massing of War Materials Are
Transforming the Armed Peace of Our
Day Into Crushing Burden Which the
People Have More and More Difficulty in
Bearing.
st. Petersburg. Aug. 29.-By order Of
Emperor Nicholas, Count Muravieff,
the foreign minister, handed to the
foreign diplomats at ST. Petersburg
note declaring maintenance of peace
and the reduction Of the excessive arm
sments now crushing all nations Is the
ideal for which all nations ought to
strive. The car considers the present
moment favorable for the inauguration
of a movement looking to this end. and
Invites the powers to take part in an
International conference as means or
thus ensuring real and lasting peace
and terminating the progressive in
crease Of armament.
The cars proposition is likely to pro-
duce q sensation throughout Europe.
and coming from such quarter and
with such evident sincerity of purpose,
II is likely to have important effects.
There is no doubt that with Russia
taking the lead in such q step Ger
many, France and the other nations
will be ready to follow.
The text of the note follows:
THE maintenance of general peace
and the possible reduction of the ex-
cessive ornaments which weigh upon
all nations present themselves in eN-
listing conditions to the whole world as
an ideal toward which the endeavors
of all governments should be directed.
The humanitarian and magnanlmous
Ideas of his majesty, the emperor. my
august master, have been won over to
this view in the conviction that this
lofty aim is In conformity with the
most essential interests and legitimate
views OF all powers, and the imperial
government thinks the present mo-
mont would be very favorable to seek
ing the means.
international discussion IS the most
effectual means of ensuring all peoples
beneft-a real durable peace, above all,
putting an end to the progressive de-
velopment Of tbs present amaments.
In the course Of the last 20 years
the longing for general appeasement
has grown especially pronounced in
the consciences Of civilized nations, and
the preservation of peace has been put
forward as an object of international
policy. It is in its name that great
states have concluded among them
selves powerful alliances.
1T is the better to guarantee peace
that they have developed in proportions
hitherto unprecedented their military
forces and still continue to increase
them, without shrinking from any sac
rifice.
Nevertheless, all these efforts have
not yet been able to bring about the
beneicient result Observation-Disclosures
The financial charges following the
upward march strike at the very root
OF public prosperity. The intellectual
and physical strength of the nations
labor and capital are mostly diverted
from their natural application and are
unproductively consumed. Hundreds Of
millions are devoted to acquiring ter
rible engines of destruction, which.
though today regarded as the last work
of science. are destined tomorrow to
lose all their value IN consequence of
some fresh discovery in the same field.
National culture, economic progress
and the production of wealth are
either paralyzed or checked in develop
ment. Moreover. in proportion as the
ornaments of each power increase,
they less and less fulfill the object the
government set before themselves.
The economic crisis, due in great
part to the system of ornaments
routrance, and the continual danger
which lies in this massing Of war ma
terial are Transforming the armed
peace of our days into crushing bur-
den which the people have more and
more difficulty in bearing.
1T appears evident that if this state
Of things were to be prolonged it would
Inevitably lead to the very cataclysm
it is desired to avert, and the horrors
whereof make every thinking being
shudder in advance.
ITO put an end to these incessant
almaments and to seek the means OF
warding off the calamities which are
threatening the whole world-such is
the supreme duty today imposed upon
all states.
FILLED with this idea, his majesty
has been pleased to command me to
propose to all the governments whose
representatives are accredited to the
imperial court, the assembling Of
conference which shall occupy itself
with this grave problem.
This conference will be. by the help
of God, a happy presage for the cen
fury which IS about to open. 1t would
converge into one powerful focus the
efforts of all states sincerely seeking to
make the great conception of universal
peace triumph over the elements of
trouble and discord, and it would, at
the same time cement their agreement
bv a corporate conservation OF the
principles of equity and right wherein
rest the security of states and the well
fare Of peoples"