Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-01-02
Hon. Wars End
New York Sun.

L. L here is no parallel IN modern wars lor Ter
manys action-an indicated belligerent asking
its adversares to meet it and discuss unformu-
lated terms of peace. The impression, however,
that nations desiring to end war generally
| avail themselves of the offer OF some friendly
neutral to act as mediator is utterly unfounded,
though great deal of the talk about the possible
action of the United States in such way has
| proceeded as if that were the almost invariable
rule u
When England desired to end the war with
the colonies it began by sending separate nego-
| tiators TO the French government and to the
| American commissioners in Paris. The latter,
though positively commanded by congress to
negotiate no peace without the participation of
| their French allies, did sign a separate treaty,
| though with the reservation that it should not go
| into effect until France had made peace. They
| then informed the French government which
accepted the terms.
The Napoleonc peace treaties usually began
| with armstice. The most famous, the treaty
| Of Tilsit, was brought about by personal meet
| ing between Napoleon and Alexander on a raft
| in the middle of the river Nemen to agree upo
an armistice which the car had already sought
An armistce was also agreed upon after the bat
tie OF Lutzen, but Napoleon would not agree to
the allies terms and resumed hostilities. His
fall in 1874 accompanied by no negotiations;
the allies were actually in Paris Napoleon's
generals persuaded him to sign act of abdica-
| ton, and the French Senate dethroned him.
The way to the peace of Ghent which ended
the war OF 1872, was paved by an offer of the
| czar to act as mediator, though it was rejected
In rejecting it Lord Castereagh let it be known
that he was willing to negotiate directly with the
United States The United States gladly ac-
cepted and sent commissioners, but England neg
lected to appoint ENJOYS until long afterward
when its troubles had become great that it
was DESTROYS of peace.
In the Mexican war President Polk was al
ways anxious for peace, but his ENJOYS were not
accepted. At last he went so far as to send an
envoy, Nicholas P. Trist, along with SCOTS army
authorized to treat with Mexico the moment that
country was willing to do so. Scott quarreled
| with Trst and refused to transmit his letter to
| the Mexican government and Trist had to get the
| British minister to forward it. After repeated
failures and rebuffs he finally got in touch with
| commissioners appointed by new government
which had succeeded Santa Anna, but not until
| Polk had ordered his recall. He disregarded
this order and negotiated the treaty Of Guadalupe
| Hidalgo
On the death of Gar Nicholas. /, his sue
cessor, Alexander II, announced to the courts
| of Europe his desire that the Crimean war should
end, and this is the nearest approach to parallel
with Germany's action today. A peace confer
ence was held in Vienna, but in three months it
| was broken off and the war resumed. The war
went on until Austria, a neutral power threat
| ened to join the allies unless the car accepted
| its ultinatum He at first refused but personal
letter from the neutral king of Prussia induced
him to reconsider and the final peace conference
was held.
The war of Italy, France and Austria in 1859
was terminated in surprising fashion by an
armstice agreed on personally between Napoleon
| III and Franz Josef, just the French and Ita-
ian armies were in the full tide of success. Vic
| tor Emmanuel was forced to agree, and the terms
of the armistice were embodied in peace treaty.
| The war between Prussia and Denmark in
1864 came abruptly to an end when the Danes
i taor az has, oC 1,od
help them. They dismissed their war ministry
| from Office and sent proposals for a truce d.
rectly to Berlin and Vienna.
| The terms of peace between the United States
and the confederacy were arranged by generals
in the field. -.
In the war between Austria, Prussia and Italy
in 1866, Franz Josef, after his defeats at KONG
gratz and elsewhere, informed Napoleon III Of
his willingness to, cede .Venetia to Italy and his
desire that Napoleon be mediator. Napoleon
accepted and Bismarck drafted the terms and sent
them to Napoleon, who, as mediator, accepted
them. An armistice followed,
| In 1870 the French government which suc-
ceeded Napoleon III asked first for an armistice,
| then for peace, but the requests were declined
and the siege of Paris began. After the sur
render of Paris the Germans consented to an
| armistice to permit the election of national
assembly which it could recognize. The pre-
liminares of peace were agreed on between Bis
| marck and Theirs at Versailles, and the treaty
! followed at Frankfort
The Russo Turkish war was cut short by Eng
lands threat to enter it. Russia arranged an
armistice Immediately and negotiated the treaty
of San Stefano directly with Turkey. England,
backed by France and Austria, refused to recog-
nize It, and the congress of Berlin was summoned,
but before it met the car had negotiated a secret
| treaty with England embodying most of the
agreements subsequently made there.
China made two approaches to japan while
the war of 1894 was going on, but through en-
voys who had no proper credentials, and Japan
| refused to treat with them. When China was
| wholly defeated and the Japanese armies about
| to march on Picking, the empire sent Ii flung
| Chang with proper credentials to Shimonoseki
and the treaty was at once drawn up.
The Spanish American war of 1893 closed
| when Spain, on July 26 made overtures to the
| United States through Cambon, the French am
| bassador at Washington. Seventeen days later
| the protocol was signed I,
| The Boer war ended in an unprecedented way.
| The members of the Transvaal government rode
| into Middleburg and requested to be sent to Lord
| Kitchener to arrange peace terms with him. He
met them, but held that because of the peculiar
| character of the Boer army the men in the field
would have to be consulted il any assurance of
| peace was to be given. Steyn, De Wet and De-
larey went to the commands, explained the sit
uation to them, and each body in the field chose
| two delegates TO meet at Vereenging and decide
| the matter by vote
President Roosevelt brought the Russo-J apa-
nese war to end by sending, on June g. 1905.
| identc dispatches to both governments urging
that they enter into peace negotiations, Both
| accepted.
An armstice in the first Balkan war was
| ended by breaking off of negotiations. The
mowers then agreed upon terms and offered rnedi-