The Cook County herald., 1904-11-19
PEACE TERMS HEAVY
LARGE AMOUNTS PAID BY. VAN.
y QUlSHED NATION. 49, =.
Indemnity, Added to the Cost of War,
Might Well Make Nations Hesitate
Before Engaging in ConfIict-lm-
nense Sum Exacted from France.

At the conclusion of her war WITH
China in lS40,. the Celestial Empire
was forced to pay Great Britain $685.
100000. A goodly portion of this in
demnity was paid over to British mer-
chants by way of compensation for
the destruction of their property by
the Chinese. But considering that
this war cost over $l00,O00,000, it
cannot be described as a profitable
bargain. At the close of the second
war with China the indemnity paid
England was $10,00O,000. But as three
and half dollars were expended for
every one paid back, it is easy to see
which nation had the better side of
the transaction.
The United States has been salts
fed with a grant of territory in each
of the wars she has waged. In fact,
at the end of the war with Mexico, we
paid to the Mexicans $15,00O,000 as
consideration for the territory annex
ed. Also, during the war with Spain,
when she gave up her struggle for
possession of her colonial possessions
and sued for peace, the United States
agreed to pay over to the Spanish
government the sum of $4,000 900 to
compensate them for their terrible
loss.
At one time when Schleswig- Hol-
stein belonged to Denmark Bismarck
having cast covetous eyes at the har-
Dor of Kiel, situated in Holstein.
caused Jutland to be invaded by the
Prussians. When his forces were
routed he cunningly inveigled Austria
into supporting him and the allied
troops having proved too strong for
their adversaries, might once triumph
ed over right. The victors, as often
happens, quarelled over the disposi-
tion of the spoils, and this gave rise
to the war between Austria and Ger
many in 1866. The latter power prov
ed victorious and insisted upon Aus
tria paying as war indemnity a sum
that, with the amounts levied upon
the five small states which helped her,
reached nearly $32,500,000.
The severity with which Bismarck
treated the French at the conclusion
OF the Franco-Prussian war surpassed
the instance just mentioned. The
price he compelled France to pay for
peace was $1,000, 100000, the largest
war indemnity ever exacted 1t was
thought that this would ruin France,
but owing to the thrift of the French
peasants the last instalment was met
before it was due. Although this sum
exceeded by several millions the
amount expended by the Germans on
the war, they and the willy Bismarck
never ceased to regret that they had
not doubled it. Considering that
France had also to surrender two of
her fairest provinces, Germany made
an unprecedented and enormous profit
as the result of the conclusion of
peace.
When Russia defeated Turkey,
after suffering severe reversals her
self. in the struggle of 1877, she ac-
cepted the sum of $160000,0O0 indem-
nifty, though she had at first attacked
a much larger sum. This was little
more than the actual cost of the cam
paign, and the victors would not e.
tertain any lower terms, as the dam
age inflicted on their subjects and
commerce by the war was fully equal
to these figures, large though they
We're. So far Turkey has paid little
more than half the indemnity, and
there seems little likelihood that she
will ever raise the full amount.
Like her former enemy, Turkey
was forced not many years ago to
substantially reduce a claim for in
demnity. The sultan claimed $50 O,OO0,-
coo from Greece as the condition of
peace. But by the intervention of
the powers he was compelled to ac-
cept one-fifth of the amount. AS
Greece was practically in. state Ct
bankruptcy, it would have been i'm
possible for the state to have COM
piled with the original demands,