The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-08-30
PEACE TERMS OF HISTORY.

A~ ~
from the Russian point of view, ar
incidentally hard, but that is becaus
the price of defeat in war is Away
terrible to the vanquished. The south
ern states of the union paid no none!
indemnity. but think what worse thing.
they suffered, says the Springfield Re
publican. England had no mercy fol
the nationality of the Beers: che wiped
it from the map. The United States
did not merely free Cuba, but tore the
entire colonial empire of Spain from
the mother country. Defeat itself ia
hardest to bear. CessiOns OF territory
and indemuities are in later years
merely the scars of wounds that burned
into the souls Of vanquished peoples.
What do the proffered terms signify
In relation to the broad issues Of the
war, and how do they compare with
the terms exacted by other victorious
powers: 1t would be unjust to hold
Japan to higher standards than the
western nations recognized in their
own performances. II we contrast the
Japanese conditions of peace with the
conditions which Russia sought to inn
pose upon Turkey in 1878, the last oc.
casion when the St. Petersburg gov
eminent occupied the overwhelming
position of a victor in q military
struggle, it will probably appear that
the far eastern power will not suffer
by the comparison. Whatever the ex.
act terms now offered by Baron Ko.
mura may prove to be-and undoubt.
eddy their general outline has been
correctly %given-it is certain that they
fall short in severity of the Russian
terms embodied in the treaty of San
Stefano, which would have been per-.
manent but for the intervention of En-
gland and Austria and then the con.
cert Of Europe,
The Car, Alexander H., when be.
ginning the war against Turkey ia
1877, declared that he did so without
ambitious designs, and solely to sue.
0 the Christians of the Ottoman en-
pire. Military success finally crowned
his efforts in the field, and his ENJOYS,
in March, 1878, dictated to the sultan
the treaty Of peace which later on led
to the congress of Berlin. 1t is by the
peace Of San Stefano and not by the
peace Of Berlin, which was forced by
Europe upon the czar, that Russian
ideas Of peacemaking may be judged.
Although Alexander II. went to war
merely to succor oppressed Christians,
he practically wiped out the Ottoman
empire in his own settlement with the
sublime porte. He demanded the COM.
plete independence of Roumania, Ser.
via and Montenegro, all of which
were enlarged territorially. The prin.
cipality OF Bulgaria, which was ere
ated under the cars protectorate,
embraced all Macedonia and was Civ.
en- q coastline on the 4Egian sea, leav-
Ing to the sultan four small pieces of
territory in Europe entirely discon-
nec.ed with each other. Bulgaria, as
thus constituted, would have been in
effect q Russian satrapy, and Con.
stantinople, Isolated between two por.
lions of the Russian empire, would
have fallen utterly under Russian in.
~luence. 1t was this aspect OF the stu.
alton that led Disraeli to order the
British fleet to pass the Dard anelles
and anchor in front OF the Ottoman
capital.
The ear, however, was not content
with blot,iug out Turkey as a Euro.
pean power. He demanded u war in.
demnity Of l, 400, 900, 900 roubles. which
was lessened by 100, 00O, 900 roublcs
on account of the Financial embar-
BASEMENT of Turkey, in consideration
of Il large and important territory in
Asia Minor, embracing parts of Ar
menia. several Turkish fortresses, and
a long stretch Of the littoral OF the
Black sea. This Asiatic expansion,
which was not entirely nullified by the
Berlin congress, permanently carried
the Russian empire across the eau
casus to the frontier of Persia, acouu-
try in which the car has in late years
exercised Il predominant interest.
If tina, was the Russian idea OF
peacemakiug in ISIS. We eau suruise
what terms the car would now be dis.
posed to iutlict upon Japan had he
been victorious in the present war.
Mauchuria and Korea would undoubt-
eddy be absorbed without much quail.
tica,ion into the Russian empire, Il
heavy indemnity would be imposed,
and in all probability the territorial
integrity of the Japanese archipelago
itself would be assaileu. The sea OF
Japan almost surely would be turned,
in u naval sense, into a Russian lax,
on the ground that it was necessary n.