JUST PUBLISHED The Federation of the World By BENJAMIN F. TRUEBLOOD, LL.D. A Discussion of the Grounds, both theoretic and historic, for believing in the Realization of the BROTHERHOOD OF HUMANITY, and the final Organization of the World into a great INTERNATIONAL STATE. It treats of the Causes of War, the Origin and Development of the Peace Movement, the Growing Triumph of Arbitration, the Religious, Social, Political and Commercial Influences which are working out the ABOLITION OF WAR. Its value to Students of the Subject is greatly enhanced by the addition of a wellselected Bibliography. 16mo. Cloth, 171 Pages, Price $1.00. Sold by booksellers, or sent postpaid, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers. PEACE PUBLICATIONS FOR SALE BY THE American Peace Society. Prices Include Postage. LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS. By THE TRUE GRANDEUR OF NA- SOUTHERN HEROES; OR THE CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM IN THE WAMPUM BELT; a Story WAR AS IT IS. By Wilhelm INTERNATIONAL ARBITRA- INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS: PAX MUNDI. A concise account Anyone sending a sketch and description may quickly ascertain our opinion free whether an invention is probably patentable. Communica tions strictly confidential. Handbook on Patents sent free. Oldest agency for securing patents. Patents taken through Munn & Co. rece e special notice, without charge, in the Scientific American. A handsomely illustrated weekly. Largest circulation of any scientific journal. Terms, $3 a year: four months, $1. Sold by all newsdealers. MUNN & CO.361 Broadway. New York Branch Office, 625 F St., Washington, D. C. THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. VOL. LXI. BOSTON, APRIL, 1899. PAGE. 75 76-81 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 The Conference at The Hague. We give a large amount of space this month to the coming Conference at The Hague. We print again the Czar's Rescript, and give in full his second circular, both of which have been specially translated for this paper. No. 4. in fact, from any nations, has met to take counsel as to how universal peace may be permanently maintained and the world relieved of the untold moral and material burdens which the war system has imposed upon it. It will be a long time before the immense significance of this fact can be adequately appreciated. But it is felt even now, by no small number of people. It is dimly understood that humanity, in its corporate capacity, is beginning at last to take to itself the sovereignty which of right belongs to it, and which it will some day exercise over all the face of the earth, regardless of national boundaries. The Czar's action has been, and still is, the subject of suspicion, ridicule and open opposition. He has had a good many lectures read to him as to what he ought to have done in place of what he did. In England even, where his initiative has awakened 93 such a popular movement as has not stirred the English people more than two or three times during the century, the failure of the Conference has been prophesied in the bluntest English. A writer in the National Review, or rather the editor, declares that "universal peace will be as far off as ever after the Czar's Conference, and universal disarmament no nearer." Which is only another way of saying that the world gets no better, and that war will be eternal, which of course nobody believes. A writer in the Nineteenth Century, wants the Conference to fail. He declares "war to be the supreme test of national value." Another writer in the Nineteenth Century, Sir Henry Howorth, characterizes the whole movement in England as an "effeminate agitation", a "sentimental absurdity", a "bastard enthusiasm" and what-not, over which he feels it his duty to throw cold water lest it get too hot. From his language one would think Sir Henry himself hot enough to need a vigorous cold bath. As the eighteenth of May, the date set for the opening of the Conference, approaches, the importance of the occasion becomes more and more evident. In spite of the untoward circumstances, in many parts of the world, under which the meeting will take place, perhaps the more because of these circumstances,—an increasing number of people everywhere are feeling the greatness and the solemnity of the moment, as a turning point of extraordinary significance in the upward movement of civilization. It will be the first time in history that a body of responsible statesmen, from all the civilized nations, But in spite of these cynical criticisms and evil prognostications, and notwithstanding the deplorable apathy and restraint of our own people, the Conference is getting itself ready to be held. All the governments invited have taken the matter seriously-even more seriously than the peoplesand are appointing delegates from among their foremost men. Our government will send three able and experienced men, of whom it is said that Ambassador Andrew D. White will be one. Great Britain, the voice of whose Prime Minister is the most authoritative voice in the whole political world, has taken such an attitude toward the Conference as to make some measure of success an absolute certainty. Lord Salisbury has appointed, as the head of the English delegation, Sir Julian Pauncefote, whose devotion to the principle of arbitration and efforts to secure its permanent introduction into international institutions, especially into the relations of Great Britain and the United States, are known by all. This appointment means that Great Britain goes to the Conference, not to quibble, not to put obstacles in the way of positive schemes, not to outwit Russia, not to secure international recognition of the supremacy of the British fleet, but to throw the whole weight of her powerful influence in support of the aims for which the Conference has been called. The Czar himself has grown more serious and more determined as the date of the meeting approaches. The favor with which his proposals have been received, both by governments and peoples, has greatly encouraged him. So has the support given him in many parts of his great empire. His position in the political world is an assurance of success. He is a young man with his future before him, and he feels that the judgment which will be meted out to him will depend upon the success or failure of his Great Design, now that he has launched it. John Morley has said that for a long time to come every public man will be judged by his attitude toward the Czar's manifesto and the Conference which he has called to relieve the world of the curse of militarism. Much more does the Czar himself feel that he is at the judgment seat of the world. Furthermore, every nation which enters the Conference will thereby assume its measure of responsibility for the success or failure of the deliberations. It does not stand to reason that these nations representing all the enlightenment, the wealth and power of the world, will go to The Hague on this august and magnificent mission of peace, such a mission as never was entrusted to men before, and then either deliberately or accidentally and carelessly stultify themselves. Their delegates will meet, without any of the "pomp and circumstance" of war, in the majestic quietness and delib erateness of reason, and for a month, more or less, they will consider the great and difficult problems entrusted to them; and the results, however limited they may be in scope, will be in reality, in their bearings in the future progress of the world, as much greater than those of any previous international Congress as the purpose for which this Conference meets is incomparably great. Need of Funds. Editorial Notes. The urgent appeal for funds which the American Peace Society has just made by circular letter has met with a generous response from a considerable number of our friends, but the amount received is not yet sufficient by nearly one-half to cover the need. The shrinkage in the rentable value of the property held in trust for the Society has been such for the past two years that a debt has been inevitable if we continued without abatement the work of distributing our various peace publications. It has not seemed right, under the circumstances of the times, to curtail the work. Indeed, there has been every reason for greatly enlarging and pushing it with all vigor. Besides this, the Board of Directors have decided to have a representative at The Hague during the time of the Conference which meets there in May, if the means can be secured to meet the expenses of the trip. The Society has been one of the chief agencies for three quarters of a century in developing the great cause of arbitration and peace, now ripening to fruition, and it hopes through the generosity of its friends not only to be able to maintain but greatly to increase its efficiency in the years to come. Will not all our friends help us according to their ability? Get your friends to subscribe for the ADVOCATE OF PEACE, or to become members of the Society. Gifts of any amount will be gratefully received, and may be sent to the Secretary, B. F. Trueblood, 3 Somerset St., Boston, or to the Treasurer, Thomas H. Russell, 27 State St., Boston. Presidency of the Conference. Mr. de Staal, the Russian Ambassador to Great Britain, has been chosen to preside at the Peace Conference at The Hague. As the Conference is to be held at the capital of Holland, the ordinary rule governing such cases would have required the Conference to be presided over by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. But the Dutch Government declined to undertake the task of presiding. The appointment of Mr. de Staal gives great satisfaction, He is the most trusted of especially to London. Russian diplomats, a man of age and great experience, a gentleman of genial and charming personality, and the most respected of all the diplomatic corps in London. He will have associated with him, in the Russian delegation, Professor de Martens, of the St. Petersburg University, who is president of the Anglo-Venezuelan |