The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-09
The Cars Peace Propaganda.

Notwithstanding the cool and somewhat
skeptical tone Of the comments in the Con.
tinental press on the project Of partial dis
armament conceived by the Car, it Is GER
tain that the subject will be considered in q
conference which will be held at an early
date, in which all the great European
powers will be represented. In view, too,
of the manifest sincerity and earnestnesa
of NICHOLAS ii. 1t Is not inconceivable that
Russia may be able to formulate proposals
that certain other countries can accept, es-
pecially IL she offers herself to furnish an
example of partial disarmament by an i'm
mediate and considerable reduction OF her
standing army. Several grave difficulties,
these, no doubt, upon which the attention
Of the st. Petersburg. Government is now
fixed, to the end that some practical method
of coping with them may be suggested.
Ono Of these difficulties is presented by
the question whether the existing status
quo IN to remain undisturbed during the
period for which the Continental powers
might, on some grounds, he disposed to
agree to a partial disarmament. 1t is evil
dent that OF no other basis could an agree
ment be reached, but 1t would be far from
easy to arrive at n definition OF the status
quo to which all European peoples would
submit. The French nation, for instance,
would be extremely reluctant TO bind itself
not to make any attempt to recover Alsace-
Lorraine or to dislodge England from
Egypt during a long term Of years.
Neither IS it likely that Germany wishes to
guarantee the territorial integrity Of Aus
tria- Hungary against the d~isintegration
with which the dual monarchy will be
threatened after the death of FRANCIS
JOSEPH. Provided these obstacles could
be overcome, it would prove almost
impossible to guarantee the status qu0
in China. even II this could be defined,
for the respective interests Of the COM
mercial powers might be, at any hour, va
riously affected by a palace revolution at
Pekin or by a successful insurrection in the
provinces. The utmost, seemingly, that
could be don for the assurance OF tranquil
lily in this quarter would be for Russia to
set the example Ofself-abnegation by prom
Using to content herself with the acquisi-
tions already made by her at the cost Of the
Middle Kingdom, and then to assent to u
demarcation Of the several spheres of in
fuence Of the great powers interested in
the Far East. II such a demarcatlon could
be made, and freedom Of access to all parts
of China for the subjects or citizens OF all
the powers concerned could be guaranteed,
there would be som chance Of perpetual
ing the arrangement through "A Joint agree
mcnt to uphold the present Manchu dynas-
ty for a designated number OF years.
In the improbable event that "a solution
might DO found for the preliminary prob
lens relating to the status qiO, there would
still remain the question whether the pro-
posed reduction Of expenditures should he
applicable to navies ms well as armies. II
an attempt should he made at the confer
ence to answer this question in the aflrma-
tive, the peace proposals would fall through.
for not only Great Britain but also Ger
and France deem the prosecution of
their present naval programme a matter of
vital Importance. Those, therefore, who
favor the conference and hope to see some
ultimate results from its deliberations may
do we'll to confine the scope OF the projected
partial disarmament to standing armies