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[ililirrii! !ii iiiil Iliiil Hi ijiliiH-ii hi} I lliiilllillllll iiirimiHiH III J 1} hit 1 hhf GIFT OF SX^ PEACE GIVEN AS THE WORLD GIVETH PEACE GIVEN AS THE WORLD GIVETH OR THE PORTSMOUTH TREATY AND ITS FIRST YEAR'S FRUITS BY JOHN BIGELOW NEW YORK BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 1907 j3 3^ ^•^ >■ S^ >-A X PEACE GIVEN AS THE WORLD GIVETH PEACE GIVEN AS THE WORLD GIVETH^ While sojourning with my family at a watering-place on the eastern frontier of France in the summer of 1905, nmiors reached me through the public prints that our President was permitting himself to listen to, if not seriously to entertain, the purpose of attempting negotiations for a suspension of the war between the empires of Russia and Japan. Deeming such a step on his part most indiscreet and unlikely to be successful, except upon terms which any representative of a republic would have reason to deplore, I wrote the following letter: DivoNNE LES Bains June 3, 1905. My dear Mr, President: You have the ear of Dionysius, but you do not use it for the same purpose. The tyrant ^ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you. John xiv. 27. 1^1 PEACE GIVEN of Syracuse used it to learn what his people did not wish him to know. You use it only to learn what your people wish you to know. There you have my excuse for trying to secure your attention for a few moments. You will have observed that the day follow- ing the arrival of the news of the prostration of the Russian naval power on the Pacific the market value of all financial securities ad- vanced throughout the commercial world. This advance was based upon the probabilities of an early peace which you are looked to as the Deus ex Machina through whom it is to be negotiated. What I venture to suggest is that you be in no hurry to entertain appeals of that kind, from any quarter. The time for a peace of any sort, and especially for a durable peace which would unite the people and government of Russia, the only kind of peace with the negotiation of which you can aflford to have anything to do, is still, in my judgment, quite remote. There is no evidence that either of the bel- ligerent governments or their people desire 1^1 AS THE WORLD GIVETH peace upon any such terms as are now attain- able. The peace that might satisfy the gov- ernment of the Czar and those who would negotiate it would be as hateful to the en- lightened and probably to the unenlightened population of Russia as the restoration of the Bourbons by the Allied Powers after the bat- tle of Waterloo was to the French people ; as the restoration of the Stuarts was after the death of Cromwell. On the other hand, an indefinite prolonga- tion of the war would be preferable to the Czar and his entourage to any such conditions of peace as the people would be satisfied with, or such only as you could afford as the Presi- dent of a republic and a Christian to recom- mend. Every one who believes in an overruling Providence must admit that the sacrifices of life, to say nothing of property, in this war, as indeed in all wars, is expiatory of correspond- ing wrongs and injustice on the part of one or both of the belligerents. There are no signs yet that the sacrifices, enormous and perhaps unprecedented thus far in human history as 1:5] PEACE GIVEN they are, have yet reached or apparently ap- proached the level of the evils and foul in- humanities which are to be expiated. The rulers of Russia for the last two cen- turies have been to Europe what the sons of Anakim were to the Hebrew emigrants from Egypt in the time of Moses, a menace and a terror. We have heard all our lives the cry, "Who can stand before these sons of Anak?" From their first emergence in history as a nation they have preyed upon all neighboring territories like a cancer, and by predatory habits compelled the rest of the civilized world not only to go constantly armed but to provide weapons of ever-increasing number and costliness for self-defense. It would seem as though the beginning of the end of this international terror was at hand, but I think those have read history to little purpose who think the end itself and a durable peace is at hand. The Master who is a silent party to all wars is not worrying about the holders of Russian securities in St. Petersburg and Frankfort and Paris and London, or in Wall Street. AS THE WORLD GIVETH He is not worrying either about the slaughter of His creatures whose blood is staining the soil of Manchuria and the waters that bathe the shores of Korea. He is thinking rather of the government and institutions to be provided for the training of countless future generations for a higher seat in His King- dom. Such changes in a population to be counted not by millions but by hundreds of millions are not wrought in a day or a year. They re- quire more frequently centuries. The Ameri- can colonists, in the main a very superior class of people, had to endure the caprices and tyr- anny of a crazy monarch for nearly fifty years before they were brave enough, strong enough, and wise enough to assert their independence. We had to endure for more than a century and then fight the bloodiest and most costly war of which history had then any record, be- fore we were able to eliminate from our Con- stitution the shameful privilege of property representation which was shared only by a minority of our States and population; an inequality which was utterly unreconcilable PEACE GIVEN with the elementary principles of popular sovereignty. Beginning with the revolution in France of 1793, succeeded by perpetual agitation and repeated political convulsions which lasted for nearly a century, and then only after a fear- fully bloody dynastic war, did the French people succeed in the expulsion or extinction of the several races of her oppressors and in the establishment of a constitutional popular government which has already endured more than three times as long as the average dura- tion of her dynastic governments for the three preceding centuries. What it took France nearly a century to accomplish, who can name the limits of the time it may take Russia to accomplish, with fully twenty times the popu- lation that France had in 1793, that can neither read nor write (and who probably never had an ancestor that could) . Who can suppose that with all the new facilities of intercourse and the new forces at the service of the world to-day, steam, elec- tricity, the telegraph and telephone, the growing commercial and alimentary depen- AS THE WORLD GIVETH dence of nations upon each other, that Russia can reach the pohtical conditions under which France is now, for the first time in her history, prosperous and content, in a much briefer period than France required for her enfran- chisement? But there is no position short of that with which Russia can now be expected ever to be content, and, if the lessons of his- tory are to be trusted, restlessness, agitations, revolutions, must be the warp or the woof of her history until her people rule their govern- ment instead of being ruled by it. Now with suitable apologies for the many superfluous words I have used, and to make a long story short, I merely wish you to con- sider whether you as a Republican President can recommend to Russia any terms or con- ditions of peace which she would think of accepting or which any of the dynastic powers of Europe would consent to her accepting; and whether you care to place your Adminis- tration in like relations to the people of Russia — now struggling hopefully for a free and enlightened government— that the English and French governments occupied towards [93 PEACE GIVEN ours in 1863-4, when they were trying to force President Lincoln to purchase peace by a surrender of more than half of our national territory to be desecrated to the perpetuation of chattel slavery. I remain, Mr. President, with sincere re- ' Your very obedient servant, John Bigelow. His Excellency Theodore Roosevelt, President. As I was taking my afternoon walk to the post-ofRce with the foregoing letter in my pocket, I encountered a friend quite unex- pectedly who had just driven up from a dis- tance to call upon me. In the course of our conversation, as he was a person as well ac- quainted with the policies and type of the Washington government as any one of my acquaintance, I ventured to express to him my hope that the President would turn a deaf ear to any solicitations of the kind referred to DO] AS THE WORLD GIVETH in the preceding note, and I went so far as to say that I did not deem it possible that a Republican president could consistently sug- gest any terms of peace, at that stage of the war, which the imperial government of Russia could, or would, accept. The answer that I received surprised me: "To have Russia re- ject our terms is just what we want; that will make us solid with Japan." This remark satisfied me that it was too late for such a letter as I had written to do any good. I did not post it. It would have been originally addressed to Mr. Hay, then Secretary of State, had his health permitted him to be in his place at Washington, and in a condition to give attention to business at the time it was written. He died on the first of July, and Elihu Root, of New York, was per- suaded to become his successor. So soon as I learned that Mr. Root had taken the oath of his new ofiice, I wrote to him the following letter: en] PEACE GIVEN The Squirrels Highland Falls on Hudson, New York July 14, 1905 Hon. Elihu Root, My dear Mr. Secretary: Nothing which Mr. Roosevelt has done since he became our Chief Magistrate has commended him so much to my respect, nor done so much to mitigate my sense of the loss which his administration and the country have sustained in the death of Mr. Hay, as your selection for his successor. I imite my- self with the great majority of the nation in thanking you for yielding to the President's appeal. I should not trouble you, however, with this declaration, which I am sure will convey no news to you, if I did not esteem it a proper introduction to some views to which you may not have had occasion to attach as much importance as I do. I was in Paris when the wail of the bankers from all the great financial centers of Europe and America went up to Mr. Roosevelt to use CIS] AS THE WORLD GIVETH his influence to stop the Russo-Japanese War, without a thought on their part, I pre- sume, of the purposes which, under Provi- dence, that war was intended and destined to serve, but with a single eye to the protection of their securities, at least until they could be unloaded upon the innocent public. Having in mind the far-reaching lessons taught by the several anti-dynastic wars which made Cromwell President of Great Britain in the seventeenth century, Washington President of the United States in the eighteenth cen- tury; which sent Louis XVI of France, only a few years later, to the guillotine; which in the nineteenth century made two French em- perors captives and exiles,— and in each of these bloody crises helped to teach the nations that a government of the people, by the peo- ple, for the people, was the only system for the government of men that could endure, — I felt, as the President was so much younger than I, that I might take the liberty of cau- tioning him against overlooking the vital in- terest of the people of Russia in this war, and of weighing well, not only the advantages of PEACE GIVEN terminating it, but also possibly the far greater advantages of its continuance, until at least the rights of the Russian people were as well secured or better than the rights of their beasts of burden. While my mind was exercised by these thoughts I fell into conversation with a prom- inent metropolitan journaUst, who chanced to be in Paris at that time, in which I in- timated a doubt whether the President of our Republic ought to be in any binary about laundering Europe's dirty linen, more espe- cially as neither of the belligerents had ex- pressed any desire, formally or informally, for his intervention; and that any terms of peace which a Republican President could reconmiend with propriety the present gov- ernment of Russia would commit suicide by accepting. My friend's reply was: "To have Russia refuse our efforts to make peace is just what we want, because that will make us solid with Japan"; implying that the Mi- kado's friendship was worth more to us now than that of any other nation. As I was expecting to return home in a few AS THE WORLD GIVETH days I held the letter by me, and on my ar- rival I fomid that the President had become so far engaged in what seemed to be the policy indicated by my friend that I did not think it worth while to trouble him with my views on that subject. Mr. Hay's health at that time was such that I did not venture to bring the subject to his attention. The Czar's most formidable enemies are not the Japanese but his own subjects, who are struggling for the possession of at least some of their natural rights. The Japs are fighting their battles as we fought the battle of the slaves in breaking the neck of the Con- federacy, as Germany fought the battle of French republicans by overthrowing the chromo dynasties of the Bourbons and the Bonapartes. In your desire for peace let us hope you and the President will not forget the people of Russia, nor how frequently his- tory bears witness that the Christ sendeth not peace, but the sword, to the nations. Yours, etc., DO PEACE GIVEN At the date of this letter Russia's fleet had been utterly destroyed, and her influence on the sea for the time annihilated. Port Arthur had been taken and the Czar's land forces had been kept steadily on the retreat. On the 10th of March previous, the Japanese had driven the Russians out of Mukden and oc- cupied it. On the 16th of March Tie-Pass, forty miles north of Mukden, fell also into the hands of the Japanese, the Russians hav- ing retreated about 108 miles further west. There they rallied, and were speedily joined by the Japanese army under General Oyama. Meantime, General Kuropatkin had been superseded in the command of the Russian forces by General Linevitch. Such was the situation of the belligerents on June 8, when the President sent messages to the representatives of the Japanese and British governments, recommending them, "Not only for their sakes, but in the interests of the whole civilized world, to open direct negotiations for peace with one another," and expressing his readiness to do what he prop- erly could if the two powers concerned felt AS THE WORLD GIVETH that his services could be of aid in arranging the preliminaries as to the time and place of meeting, etc. Both belligerents finally signified their ac- ceptance of the President's proposal and on the 12th of June agreed to appoint plenipo- tentiaries to discuss terms of peace, with the results of which the public is already familiar. The first meeting of the plenipotentiaries was held on August 9, in the navy-yard, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The treaty of peace there concocted was signed by them September 5 of the same year, and confirmed by their respective sovereigns on the 14th of October following. There is no evidence of an official character which has reached the public, so far as I know, that either of the belligerents had invited this intervention; that either desired it, or that either was indis- posed to leave the issues of the war to be de- termined by the God of battles. The terms of the treaty prove pretty clearly that it was signed under the coercion of European pow- ers. That Russia was not yearning for our intervention is sufficiently manifest from her 1:173 PEACE GIVEN refusal to sign any treaty which involved the payment of a single copeck of indemnity to the Japanese — conclusive evidence that she did not consider herself conquered. Neither does she consider herself conquered to-day. That the Japanese as a people were not rec- onciled to the terms of peace to which their agent had subscribed, was shown by the riot- ous demonstrations at Tokio and the general discontent throughout their empire which fol- lowed the receipt of the news that they were to receive no pecimiary indemnity, nor any recognition of defeat from Russia, a discon- tent which slumbers under treacherous ashes, the fires of which are as far as ever from being extinct. From the origin of these negotiations in early June to their consummation by the treaty of peace concluded by the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of Russia on October 14, 1905, it is a memorable fact of conspicuous significance that neither of the secretaries of state appears by the record to have partici- pated in, if ever consulted about, the negotia- tion of this treaty by the President. CIS] AS THE WORLD GIVETH Rumors emanating from Washington were put in circulation that both the belhgerents were anxious for our interference. That meant merely that our intervention and the terms of the treaty both required an apology. No other than the one circulated would have been plausible. Of course all belligerents de- sire an end of their fight; that is what they fight for. But they are never unanimous for peace imtil one of them at least is disabled. The combatants, if separated by a superior force, are sure to continue hostiles until the issues between them are finally adjudged to their mutual satisfaction, or by some sort of tribunal from which there is no appeal. "I have always wished Peace," said Napo- leon, "and always offered it after victory; never asked it after a reverse, for one repairs the loss of soldiers more readily than the loss of honor." ^ Also, when in the plentitude of his power, ^ J'ai tou jours voulu la paix, et tou jours je I'ai offerte aprfes une victoire: jamais je ne I'ai demand^e aprfes un revers, parce- qu'une nation recouvre plus aisement des hommes qu'elle ne recouvre I'honneur. [193 PEACE GIVEN he was wont to present this abstract sentiment in a more picturesque fashion, as follows : "The lion wanted only to sleep, but was al- ways being attacked."^ "The man on horse- back wanted to stop, but how furl the Eng- lishmen's sails?" There is abundant evidence that the bel- ligerents regard each other as much enemies to-day as ever they did before the fall of Port Arthur. As recently as December 20, 1906, more than a year after the Portsmouth peace, the extra conservative Novoe Vremya of St. Petersburg utters its note of warning. Atten- tion is called by it to the feverish activity with which the Japanese are perfecting their arma- ments. The conclusion is drawn that these preparations can only have Russia as their objective; that the Japanese as a nation are dissatisfied with their government for having concluded peace upon too lenient terms and for not having effectually put an end to all question of Russian dominion in the East, the * Le lion ne demandait qu'a s-endormir, mais on Fattaquait sans cesser le cavalier aurait bien voulu arreter son cheval, mais comment brider les voiles anglaises? Cso] AS THE WORLD GIVETH conclusion being drawn that the island king- dom will before long make another bid for absolute supremacy at the expense of Russia.^ Assuming that the President's motives for lending himself and the influence of his coun- try—whether he represented or misrepre- sented it — was a himiane and fraternal one so far as he was concerned; assimiing that neither the fear lest the farther weakening of Russia would give too free a hand to Ger- many; assuming that the clamor of the bank- *A book entitled "A Russian Prisoner in Japan" has re- cently appeared and is reviewed in the New York Times of the 27th April last by a Japanese gentleman who subscribes himself as K. K. Kawakami, A.M. The conclusion of his arti- cle is interesting as expressing the opinions of one who may be presumed to have had a deeper interest in the Russo- Japanese War than President Roosevelt or any of his cabi- net. He says: "Strewn here and there through the pages the book contains pointed remarks about the prominent characters in Russia and other countries. To cite a few instances, Gorky is an *outcast and degenerate*; Count Tolstoi a 'crass Socialist, mischiefmaker, and humbug,' whose books are popular merely because of his 'moujik blouse and those delightful tableaus of a real nobleman shoemaking and haymaking*; Witte, a *high-handed genii,* whose railroad and industrial policies have ruined Russia; Alexieff, a 'sailor on horseback, who knew no more about the Japanese Army establishment than PEACE GIVEN ers about the costliness of the war and its dilution of Russian securities, had no undue influence in prompting this effort to stay the farther shedding of blood and destruction of property, it may be well worth the while of those of us who believe in popular sovereignty and constitutional democracy, to consider how far the measures adopted at Portsmouth have responded to the President's pretensions. How much have they stayed the shedding of blood? he does of the Patagonian Army'; Rojestvensky, a 'fussy old martinet,' hated by all his officers; and Stoessel, a *hen- pecked' coward, who, having surrendered Port Arthur in betrayal of his loyal soldiers, was shameless enough to ask Gen. Nogi if his wife would be allowed to take all her own things away with her. As for Mr. Roosevelt, he is the arch- angel of high-handed despots, whose steel wrist 'hammered out at the American Cronstadt' a peace which neither Japan nor Russia truly wanted. 'That terrible American President, II 8trenuoso/ wanted peace at all costs, and he surely was 'capable of locking the conferees in a room and starving them into obedience.' " "Oh ! it is the strangest thing in all the world ! Never more will a peace conference go to America. The Americans are too literal. A peace conference is for the purpose of making peace, they argue — therefore. Make peace! Quick! At once! Immediately! Oh! sooner than that, even; if the Roosevelt happens to be ruling." 1:223 AS THE WORLD GIVETH How much have they arrested the destruc- tion of property? How much have they contributed to the happiness and welfare of the people of Russia in whose behalf was to be found the only ex- cuse for the President of our republic med- dling with them? HOW MUCH HAS THE TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH STAYED THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD? The war began on the 6th of February, 1904, when the Japanese admiral engaged the Rus- sian ships and batteries at Port Arthur. It terminated with the signing of the treaty of peace at Portsmouth, September 5, 1905, having endured just about twenty months. With the month of November, 1905, after the treaty of Portsmouth had been ratified, and the news of its conditions might be supposed to have reached the people of the belligerent sovereignties, I began to preserve what ap- peared to be the most authentic reports of what as consequences of that news might 1:233 PEACE GIVEN take place in Russia for the rest of the year succeeding the signature of the treaty, em- bracing exactly ten months,— that I might know and be assured if my apprehensions were to be verified or not; if I had cried "Wolf," when there was no wolf. A member of the general staff at Wash- ington reports the casualties of the war for the whole twenty months to the signing of the treaty of peace, for Russia, 180,134, and for Japan, 153,652; making an aggregate of 313,786. The number of killed is not given, but the killed and wounded are reported in the aggregate as casualties. As that is a report for twenty months of the war, to com- pare it with the first ten months of the war it is necessary to halve that sum, which would give 156,893 casualties for ten months of the war. Now let us see what were the fruits of the Portsmouth peace during the ten months suc- ceeding its ratification. From November, 1905, to November, 1906, Russia was from one end to the other of its vast domain in a state of almost anarchical 1:243 AS THE WORLD GIVETH revolution. The successive defeats of its armies; the annihilation of its navy; the im- puted corruption and incompetence of its offi- cers, civil as well as military, on land and sea ; the exhaustion of the national treasury; the destruction of the national credit; and, finally, the disappointment of all hopes of political relief at the hands of the imperial govern- ment, seemed to have driven the proletariat in every part of the empire to desperation. The masses had no leaders, for the government had never allowed them to possess or to learn how to exercise any, even the most elemen- tary political powers. Relying as they did upon the continuance of the war to compel the government to become daily more de- pendent upon them for soldiers and money, the longer Japan kept the Czar's Cossacks in Manchuria the surer they became of an ulti- mate recognition of some of the rights of manhood theretofore denied them. The Portsmouth treaty, instead of relieving them, filled them with righteous indignation. The foreign war from which, whatever its result, the people of Russia rightfully hoped for and PEACE GIVEN expected, directly or indirectly, a substantial amelioration of their political and social con- dition, was converted into a Civil War; and an army over a million strong were released from the grasp of a victorious enemy to return and ruthlessly trample upon every one of their ennobling aspirations, and crush their only hope of securing a mode of life worth living. Riots began at St. Petersburg, spread to Moscow, Odessa, Sebastopol, to the principal Polish cities, and especially in the Caucasus, where revolutionary governments actually displaced the imperial authorities. The num- ber of killed as reported in my tables evi- dently is an insignificant portion of those who really perished, but grouped here as I took the casualties reported by the daily press, the ghastly details will prove more than ample for the lesson which this inauspicious and un- happy meddling with the quarrels of foreign nations is intended to teach. N. Y. Sun, Nov. 4, 1905. The extent of dis- asters from the revolt in Odessa may be in- ferred from the fact that there are 5,000 AS THE WORLD GIVETH wounded in the hospitals and the total casualties 15,000. N. Y. Heraldj Nov. 7. The Bucharest cor- respondent of the Daily Mail (London) writes : "There is terrifying news still from Kish- ineff; the city is strewn with dead. An unwieldy provisional government has been established. Famine reigns throughout Bessarabia and the Hebrews are taking refuge in cellars, where they are dying by wholesale." Odessa, Monday. It is now estimated that the killed and wounded during the recent riots here number 6,000. N, Y, Sun, Nov. 7. The President says to Mr. Strauss that in the condition of social disaster which actually exists in Russia he does not see that any action can be taken by the government at present which will be of any benefit to the unfortunate sufferers. O Si Sic Omnia! L^71 PEACE GIVEN N. Y, Sun, St. Petersburg, Nov. 9. Sailors at Cronstadt mutinied last night and to- day set fire to the town. ... A regiment of Uhlans sent from St. Petersbiu-g. The first of them landed were bayoneted; the rest joined the mutineers. . . . Ten un- popular officers are among the killed. There is nothing incredible in the report that Count Witte said to Mr. Petrunko- vitch: "I find myself confronted by a mighty ocean with only a cockle shell to cross it. Even if Christ assisted the gov- " emment, the people would no longer trust it." Herald J Nov. 15. A state of war has been declared in Vladivostok. Mr. Friede, an American merchant, telegraphs his wife: "Safe aboard the Labor, Terrible destruc- tion of life and property. City in flames." Sebastopol, Dec. 1. During the battle be- tween the rebel and royal vessels of the Black Sea fleet, the Novosti says 5,000 men perished on both sides. CSS] AS THE WORLD GIVETH Herald, Dec. 5, Berlin. Travelers from Kieff report a serious fight there last Fri- day between Engineers and Cossacks, and many hundreds killed or wounded. Reports from Libau that several of the nobility, officials, and other residents of Livonia and Courland, have been attacked by peasants, killed, and terribly mutilated. Bands of several hundred peasants are roving about, robbing and killing. An official statement says 8,000 peasants have been killed at Odessa since the be- ginning of the troubles. At Kieff some accounts say a massacre has taken place in which 15,000 persons were killed. The assassination of General Sacharoff caused consternation in court and minis- terial circles. He displayed special brutal- ity towards the peasants, beating a couple of Moujiks into insensibility because they refused or were unable to give the names of agitators. Herald, Dec. 11. Two strikers and a police- 1:293 PEACE GIVEN man were killed and several others wounded in front of post-office. Dee. 15. Since Sunday the town of Eliza- bethgrad has been burning and a mob has been killing and burning in the Hebrew quarters. Telegraph, London, Dec. 14. A despatch from Japan gives account of the sacking and burning of Harbin by mutinous Rus- sians. Daylight revealed the Chinese quarter in ruins and 400 Russians lying dead and wounded in the streets. Herald, Dec. 15. Peasants around Riga are burning estates and murdering landown- ers. Murders are committed in broad day- light and the police are afraid to inter- fere. The Governor-General dares not order the troops, not knowing if they will obey. Daily Mail, Dec. 19. During the street- fighting at Mitau, twenty-seven miles from Riga, 300 persons were killed. [303 AS THE WORLD GIVETH Herald, Dec. 20. Mobs of Lithuanian and Esthonian peasants attacked yesterday a hundred Cossacks and Dragoons, killed the soldiers to the last man, cut off their arms and legs and ripped up their bodies. The streets were strewn with bodies. Three hundred and forty peasants and soldiers were killed and many wounded. Most of the remaining population fled to Riga. Herald, Dec. 22. At Tukum the troops sur- rounded the town, fired on the people, kill- ing, as reported, 400. The bloodshed lasted from eight in the evening until nine in the morning. N, Y, Sun, Dec. 25. Fighting at Moscow has been going on incessantly. The casualties up to early this morning were 5,000 killed, 14,000 wounded. Herald, St. Petersburg correspondent of the London Times says : "General Doubasoff reported yesterday that 15,000 persons had been killed or wounded in Moscow." PEACE GIVEN Evening Post, Dec. 27. The military com- mander opened fire on barricades erected around the Helfrich Engine Works, which were battered down. The inmates held out till three fourths of their number were killed or wounded, when the remnant, 137, surrendered. At the Narva Gate and on the Moyka Canal 50 persons were killed or wounded. The police of St. Petersburg are now armed with rifles with bayonets at- tached. Herald, Paris edition. St. Petersburg, Tues- day. In the Sytin building, the finest printing-works in Russia, 1,000 insurgents barricaded themselves. When their posi- tion became untenable they set fire to the building, and those who did not escape in the confusion through side exits perished in the flames. Of the number our only re- port is, "Hundreds perished in the flames." Herald, Dec. 29. In St. Petersburg work- men at the Alexandrovsky factory yester- day fired on some Cossacks. The latter 1:323 AS THE WORLD GIVETH replied with a storm of bullets made of iron nuts. The result was considerable loss of life on either side. The Times correspondent from St. Pet- ersburg says the troops have been ordered to fire at all knots of passers-by, even at the voluntary Red Cross detachments. The life and liberty of citizens often hang on the mere whim of a drunken soldier. The authorities ply the troops incessantly with whiskey. Severe fighting is reported at Wilna. Hundreds have been slain. In Moscow whole blocks of four-story buildings were bombarded, and men, women, and children within were indis- criminately massacred. "Hundreds or thousands"— is the only account we have of the number of those who perished. London Ecc press, Jan. 2. After the failure of the rebellion at Moscow, the insurgents planned to escape in the night. The police, learning their intention or forcing it, cut a hole in the ice of the river they were forced to cross and drove them all into it that were IS32 PEACE GIVEN not shot in trying to escape. Of the num- ber thus disposed of, however, the press has not been permitted to enUghten us. In the destruction of the Iron Works of Rodin we are only told that "many were killed or wounded"; and again in Tiflis two houses were bombarded, "many killed or wounded." At the Anti-Jewish outbreak at Gomel we are told that "many persons were mas- sacred by Cossacks." A correspondent of the Sun reported, "Murders of policemen average one or perhaps two daily." Evening Post, March 23. Death sentences by military courts were reported in twelve cities; and at Kherson a score of peasants killed or wounded. In none of these cases was there any statement of the number. Herald, July 18, reports: "Peasants bum more than twenty estates and kill many proprietors," but the number is not stated. Sun, July 21. In the town of Syzran deaths by hundreds. 1:343 AS THE WORLD GIVETH The Tribune reports the casualties from the Sveaborg revolt "would run into the thou- sands." Paris, Temps, At the revolt in Riga numbers reported killed or wounded— but no num- bers are given. So at Siedlce, the Paris Matin reports, "hundreds killed and wounded"; that "intoxicated soldiers killed Christians and Jews without distinction." Evening Post, March 13. Statistics pub- lished to-day regarding the drumhead courts-martial show that up to March 5, when their activity was suspended by Pre- mier Stolypin on account of the opening of Parliament, 764 persons were executed, an average of almost five daily. The majority of the executions took place in Poland and the Baltic provinces. Nothing has been said here of the thou- sands sent to Siberia, condemned to the mines for life or shorter terms little less fatal to life, and the far larger number of thousands exiled CSS] PEACE GIVEN to America and other foreign lands. Neither do any of these reports that have reached us include the deaths directly or indirectly the result of famine incident to the lawless condi- tion of the country, the destruction of crops, and the desperation of the industrial classes, except to say that it is officially reported by the government of Russia that the number of people there now suffering from famine amounts to thirty millions. If ten millions of those might be relieved by government aid, charity or otherwise, and that is probably a much larger number than will be relieved by either, one shrinks from attempting to esti- mate the number of the remaining twenty millions who must perish directly from fam- ine or from the inevitable diseases consequent upon insufficient, unwholesome nourishment and starvation. Intelligent Russians in this country agree in considering twenty millions as a moderate estimate of the latter classes.^ * Mr. H. P. Kennard reports to the Montreal Star of June 9th, 1906: "A week or two back I gave the opinion of an oflBcial to the effect that 11/0% of the entire population of 13 provinces in the south of Russia, numbering twenty-five mil- lions of inhabitants, had died this winter directly and indi- csen AS THE WORLD GIVETH No one acquainted with the condition of Russia to-day would think of estimating the mor- tality in that empire from the lack of food alone at less than one million a month from now until the next harvest is reaped. Nor will any one pretend, not even a reactionary Russian, that the mortality due to this famine, which will so many times exceed all the blood- shed of the war had it continued several times twenty months, was not mainly the result of a premature peace and its paralyzing in- fluence upon an impoverished, discouraged, helpless, and desperate people. Every reader of the foregoing details is competent to estimate for himself how much bloodshed was prevented and how many lives were prolonged by the Portsmouth peace. Some of the Russian newspapers observed on November 1, 1906, the first anniversary of the so-called Constitution granted by the Czar the previous year; by footing up the terrible rectly through famine. I am bomid to state that as far as my investigations have proceeded in five of those provinces, the percentage must be put at a considerably higher figure. In fifty villages taken at random with populations ranging from 600 to 2,000 and in which the famine has been and is PEACE GIVEN roll of deaths by violence. Incomplete the figures must be, since only a portion of the actual facts found their way into print, yet according to the Evening Post of November 17, 1906, "the total of 24,239 deaths in riots or at the hands of the executioner, is enough to make the world stand aghast. No less than 22,721 persons are known to have perished in pogroms, riots, conflicts with the authorities, punitive expeditions. That this is only a part of the bloody record appears from the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of the mas- sacred Jews were never accounted for. Offi- cial executions disposed of 1,518 human lives, and thus proved beyond dispute how useless is capital punishment as a deterrent when a whole nation is aroused. Of the political agitators, 851 were given penal sentences, ag- gregating 7,138 years. In the effort to con- trol public opinion, 523 newspapers and re- prevalent I find an almost consistent mortality of 70 to 80 per thousand during the winter; over three fourths of this number, or 80%, have consisted of babies and young children, among whom this mortality has been directly due to famine. The large children's hospital in Moscow where annually 30,000 children are cared for,— had a mortality of 70%." AS THE WORLD GIVETH views were suppressed, and 647 editors prose- cuted. During the year, 31 provinces were wholly, and 46 partially, under "exceptional laws" (state of siege or war, etc.). To these figures the Strana adds that during the past twelve months there were 1,629 agrarian riots, while 183 secret printing-offices and 150 depots of arms were discovered, containing thousands of rifles and revolvers, tons of powder and explosives, and several machine guns. Bombs to the number of 244 were thrown at officials, while no less than 1,955 armed burglaries were reported. Now let us see how much property was rescued from waste and destruction by the suspension of the war. HOW MUCH HAS THE TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH STAYED THE DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY? New York Sun, Nov. 4-5, 1905. Re- ferring to the details of the three days' reign of terror at Kieff (population 248,- 750), said: Practically every Jewish shop PEACE GIVEN in every street was laid in ruins, and of the nine telegraphic routes of communication between St. Petersburg and London only one remained, involving a delay, even on that line, of twenty-four hours for every message. In this and the following cases we must leave the pecuniary loss sustained by the coimtry to be estimated by the imagi- nation of the reader. Herald, Nov. 7. The sole transcaucasian railway was effectually crippled, compel- ling the reinforcements for St. Petersburg to march on foot at the rate of fifteen to twenty miles a day with the incidental wear and tear, instead of making twenty miles an hour or more by rail ; also seven bridges on that railway had been wrecked, rails torn up in forty places and telegraph lines destroyed. London Daily Mail, same date. The theater at Ackermann, near Odessa, is in flames, and beside the 4,000 killed and 20,000 wounded, all the Jewish mills, shops, and AS THE WORLD GIVETH factories were devastated and the city of Odessa (population 450,000) was threat- ened with complete ruin. Surij Nov. 9. During the sailors' mutiny at Cronstadt (population 57,539), eight gov- ernment depots were in flames, crews of eleven war-ships mutinied and held up the town for twenty-four hours, terrorizing and looting the people. Telegraph poles out of St. Petersbm'g cut for a distance of foiir miles. Agrarian outbreaks reported from different places and peasants pillaging the estates of landowners in all directions. Sun, Nov. 15. The Chinese quarter of Vladi- vostok (population 28,896) destroyed, seventy buildings consumed, and the city in flames. Sun, Nov. 30. A mutiny in the fleet at Sebastopol (population 50,000), two cruis- ers sunk and one battle-ship badly hit. 200 Whitehead torpedoes sunk with a min- ing ship. On the same day the St. Peters- PEACE GIVEN burg bank would only accept Russian paper money at one third its face value, and 100,000 workmen had struck. Herald, Dec. 2, 1905. The tax on vodka, good in normal times for 200,000,000 rubles annually, and the only important source of revenue then remaining to the government, had dropped 50 per cent. Sun, Dec. 4. Reported that several hundred officials had stopped work; that strikers were pouring oil of vitriol into the letter- boxes of the post-office in St. Petersburg and 200 mail-bags remained unopened. Herald, Dec. 5. The imperial loan of '94 had dropped 5 per cent, in the three preced- ing days. Herald, Dec. 6. Many factories are going into bankruptcy. 800 men in the govern- ment alcohol works have struck, while the government is losing $30,000 a day by strikes on the postal and telegraph service. AS THE WORLD GIVETH The loss from the railway strikes already was estimated at $15,000,000. Industrials of all kinds had ceased to be negotiable. Herald, Dec. 8. Most of the factories and houses in Rostoff (population 120,000), have been destroyed. Fifty millions of dollars were withdrawn from the State Bank and Imperial 4's fell from 94% to 74 and industrials 20 per cent. Sun, Dec. 11. 200,000 troops ordered from Vladivostok to Odessa to suppress revolu- tionary demonstrations; 16,000 of the Kharkoff (population 170,682) garrison had mutinied, and 7,000 of the naval muti- neers at Cronstadt were in prison; also 100,000 of the better class of Russians had emigrated in the last ten days. Herald, Dec. 12. A town of 57,000 in- habitants in the department of Kherson had been in flames since Sunday, and the mob are plundering the Hebrew quarter; Harbin had been sacked and burned. 1:433 PEACE GIVEN Herald, Dec. 15. The peasants were burn- ing estates as well as murdering the land- owners around Riga (population 282,943) ; all railway communications had been cut off and thousands of Lettish peasants were roaming the country and putting the torch to the houses on all the estates. On the 15th Dec. martial law was proclaimed through- out Russia. The Echo de Paris, Dec. 15. The town of Riga shelled and burning. A Russian country house and factory employing 200 men burned and the limiber on the estate felled and carried off. Herald, Dec. 20. Mobs of Esthonians and Lithuanians attacked and killed 100 Cos- sacks and Dragoons in Courland. Six hundred more troops were then sent and shelled the place. Most of the population not killed by the troops fled to Riga. Sun, Dec. 21. Strikes in Moscow (popu- lation 1,035,664), factories and mills de- ll 44] AS THE WORLD GIVETH serted; railway men joining the strikers and several trains left standing at stations. Also a strike of the firemen at Warsaw (population 638,208), who declare that in the event of a fire they will prevent the use of their engines. Herald, Dec. 22. Fighting in the streets of Moscow; bankruptcies; peasants refusing to pay taxes; and fifty estates destroyed. All electric light cut off in Moscow and all telegraphic communication between Mos- cow and the rest of the world except Ber- lin; the Siberian railroad shut down to de- lay the return of troops, and Linevitch, the general in command of the Siberian army, reporting "the revolutionary spirit among his soldiers to be beyond his control." Herald, Dec. 23. The Baltic Provinces are joining the revolutionary party ; the Balkan railroad destroyed for a considerable dis- tance by rocks thrown to prevent return of troops. All officials and the well-to-do people are fleeing under escort, leaving all 1:45] PEACE GIVEN government and private property in the hands of the revolutionists; the plague epidemic is spreading, already covering an area of 180 by 300 miles. At Minsk (population 91,113) all the stores closed. Herald, Dec. 25. The locomotive of an ex- press blown up. Herald, Dec. 27. The Brest railroad sta- tion burned and other private properties. Many houses and other buildings destroyed by artillery in Moscow. The sky lit up all night by conflagrations in different parts of the city. The Sytin Printing Works, the finest in Russia, employing 6,000 work- men, were surrounded, set on fire, and property amounting in value to millions of rubles was destroyed, as well as hundreds of the workmen within. A store also was set on fire and burned. The Helfich Iron Works were battered down over the heads of five hundred revolutionists inside, of whom three quarters were killed. AS THE WORLD GIVETH Herald, Dec. 28. 8,000 insurgents from the Baltic provinces have lighted up the whole country near Pecoff by the flames of burn- ing residences ; rich landed proprietors were boarding the trains at Pecoff with their families, taking nothing with them but their hand-satchels. Whole blocks of four- story buildings bombarded and destroyed to their foundations. Damage estimated at seven millions of pounds sterling. Doz- ens of loaded trains burned and looted. Herald, Dec. 30. The bridge over the Volga blown up; 4,000 men engaged in destroy- ing the railway for 83 versts from Moscow. All the railroads have stopped running in Central Russia. A. D. 1906. Herald, Jan. 1. As one of the consequences of the strike the previous fortnight, eight millions of letters not writ- ten or delivered that ordinarily would have been. Herald, Jan. 3. Rebellion extended to Est- land. No end of estates burned or de- 1:473 PEACE GIVEN vastated. Villages in the Dnieper district damaged to the estimated extent of five million rubles, while the damages to the railroads alone last week amounted to about ten millions of rubles. Famine is raging in twenty-six provinces, while cholera and plague are rife in others. Herald, Jan. 4. The Caucasus is in full re- volt and all communications by telegraph or railway cut off. Losses in Moscow by strikes estimated at $3,144,000. In Khar- koff (population 170,682) the revolution- ists captured a provincial government treasury, looted it and the churches. The estates of Baron Budberg and Baron Sternberg were also destroyed. Evening Post, Jan. 10, 1906. Two houses bombarded in Tiflis (population 161,000) ; many killed or wounded. One house in which an Armenian had sought refuge was burned. Evening Post, Jan. 12, 1906. Armenian seminar}^ shelled and burned by Cossacks. AS THE WORLD GIVETH Sun, Jan. 21. Damage to house property in Moscow from shells and bullets estimated at not less than ten millions sterling. Town of Gomel (population 150,000) set on fire by Cossacks and burned for forty-eight hours. Evening Post, Mar. 23. Pillage of churches reported in two provinces in the Caucasus. In Samara (population 99,856) the mail- coach held up and $19,000 carried off. An armed band plundered the state distillery at Orenburg and several pharmacies. In Poland a large factory was burned to the ground and the Credit Mutual Bank robbed of $432,000. Machine guns were despatched in all directions ; troops concen- trated at strategic points; armored trains at railroad centers and iron-clad auto- mobiles sent to larger cities to suppress street riots. Evening Post, Mar. 25. Military trains with artillery ordered to keep up steam at all railway termini until the Duma meets. PEACE GIVEN Apr. 30. Three and a half millions of dol- lars placed at the disposal of the Minister of War to keep troops changing their sta- tions to prevent their infection with demo- cratic sympathies. Streets of Warsaw patrolled by troops ; shops and restaurants closed; no cabs or cars running or news- papers sold. Montreal Gazette, June 17-18. At Bialystok (population 90,000) revolutionists fired from roofs of houses at government build- ings all day. Evening Post, June 21. In consequence of agrarian disturbances landowners in three provinces abandon their estates. Sun, June 22. The peasants refused to pay their taxes on their allotments. Schools and hospitals all closed for want of funds. Sun, June 24. Anarchy throughout the em- pire except in St. Petersburg and Moscow. 4 towns and over 200 villages destroyed 1502 AS THE WORLD GIVETH by fire. Fields and vineyards devastated, cattle looted, population seek refuge from Cossacks in the mountains. The fate of the women terrible. Evening Post, June 26. Property near Sa- mara destroyed during the month valued at $250,000. Sun, June 30. Finance Minister reports that the strikes of October last cost the government 80,000,000 of rubles. What it cost the country not estimated. Evening Post, July 10. Emigration to Si- beria the last six months, 86,867. Estate of a late minister and another of Prince Kotzebue devastated by peasants. Evening Post, July 11. Four ironclads at Sevastopol destroyed by mutineers. The cashier of the Vistula railway and a servant of the Admiralty were robbed, the first of $50,000, the other of $12,500. 40,000 Jews fled yesterday from Warsaw. Proprietors PEACE GIVEN of 8 Jewish factories are winding up their affairs and moving to Palestine. Herald, July 18. The workmen in the Ad- miralty Arsenal at Sevastopol strike and are joined by the store employes and cab- drivers. Reports of General Staff show 6 guard regiments, 26 line, 7 cavalry, 6 artil- lery, 5 sappers, demoraUzed by revolution- ary sympathies. 4 estates completely de- stroyed. In the province of Verona more than 20 estates burned by peasants. Ten miles from Sevastopol 15 estates were burned and many proprietors killed. Evening Post, July 18. Emperor approved a bill appropriating $7,500,000 for famine relief. Sun, July 19. Peasants surrounded the Grand Duke Michael's villages and are dividing the land among themselves. Herald, July 21. The Duma suspended un- til October. AS THE WORLD GIVETH Sun^ July 21. Town of Syzran still burning. Two other towns in flames; hundreds of houses in each town destroyed; thousands camping out. General depression in gov- ernment securities. Imperial four per cents closed at 74%. The new Russian loan closed at 7% discount. Russian 4's of 1902 at Berlin sold at 72.85. Sun^ July 23. Imperial 4's have fallen in St. Petersburg to 69, and 5's to 82. Sun, July 24. Sir Henry Bannerman's speech before the Inter-Parliamentary Union: "The Russian Parliament is dead. Long live the Russian Parliament." Sun, July 25. Fierce fighting 140 miles northwest of Warsaw (population 638,- 208) between mutineers and loyal troops. All good buildings destroyed. Sun, July 26. Three artillery companies mutinied at Saratoff, destroyed the Offi- cers' Club and other buildings. Chateau PEACE GIVEN Remten, one of the finest castles in Cour- land, burned, and many lives lost. Tribune, July 27. Railway held up, the offi- cer in charge killed. Several strong-boxes broken open; $7,500 taken in the outskirts of Warsaw. The Konigsburg and Bialy- stok railways have stopped taking freight from Moscow. Evening Post, July 27. The damage from the burning of Syzran (July 19 and 20), five million dollars. The strikers burned the factory; loss, $40,000. Evening Post, July 28. A Warsaw pas- senger train with government money at- tacked by armed men who carried off $80,000. Evening Post, July 30. The Brodski eleva- tors were burned, loss estimated at $1,500,- 000. Three large estates in Samara de- stroyed last night. Peasants are cutting wood both in crown and private forests. 1:543 AS THE WORLD GIVETH 300 peasants burned the house and stock stables of the president of the Zemstvoes District and sacked the spirit stores of the adjoining village. Aug. 1. Entire crews of four war-ships muti- nied at Sebastopol; 200,000 smelters struck and walked out yesterday at Usorka. A garrison in the Caucasus on receiving news of the dissolution of the Duma, July 31, killed their commanding officer and took control of the city, post, telegraph, and government buildings. Sun, Aug. 2. A powder magazine exploded by a cannon-shot with great destruction. Sixty miles of railroad destroyed, cutting off communication of Helsingfors with St. Petersburg. Fort at Zveaborg turned its guns on the town. Heraldj Aug. 2. Fortifications at Helsing- fors seriously damaged by fire from cruis- ers. 1500 sailors at Cronstadt distrusted and imprisoned. 1:553 PEACE GIVEN Tribune^ Aug. 3. Crews of two Russian cruisers raised red flag. Immense forests of government are on fire. Three other fires raging near Baltic railway station. At St. Petersburg (population 1,267,023), 20,000 workmen struck. Paris, Temps, Aug. 25. 250,000 Israelites have left Russia since January. Aug. 26. The postal-box on arriving at St. Petersburg yesterday had been relieved of $94,200, replaced by lead. At Odessa (population 450,000) 27 stores have been pillaged during the week. Temps, Aug. 28. Riga: Unfurnished house occupied by revolutionists riddled by bul- lets. Fires on properties in four different provinces. Temps, Aug. 30. Province of Saratov: Nu- merous domains and buildings daily set on fire. Province of Kassan: Most of the pro- AS THE WORLD GIVETH prietors have abandoned their estates with contents. Incendiary fires numerous in four other provinces. Herald, Sept. 1. All trains arrive at St. Petersburg under protection of troops. Warsaw terrorists shot two soldiers in a government alcohol depot at Siedlce (population 20,000) ; a massacre ensued; three streets were devastated. TempSj Sept. 13. In the riots at Siedlce four of the principal streets are almost com- pletely devastated, 27 houses have been burned and many others pillaged and in- jured. Sun, Oct. 9. The Convocation of the Duma postponed for another six months. Such are some of the disastrous results for which our meddling with the Russo-Japan- ese struggle must be held largely responsible, yet it represents but an inconsiderable share of the destruction of property sustained by PEACE GIVEN Russia alone during this the first year of her army's release from its Japanese pursuers. And yet the destruction for the succeeding year, of which I have here given no account, was equally disastrous. I have referred to the ravages of a famine which threatened directly and indirectly the very existence of fully 20,000,000 of the in- habitants. How can we estimate the loss in labor of so many millions, whether by death or debility through lack of nourishment? The empty sack will not stand up nor an underfed man do work to anybody's advantage. Prince Lyoff is reported to have pronounced the gov- ernment estimate of $50,000,000 inadequate for famine relief. The Moscow Zemstvo re- lief organization calculated that $75,000,000 and possibly more will be required. And when are these ravages of famine to cease? The majority of the farms of Russia are now destitute of the stock absolutely nec- essary for their tillage and the proprietors lack not only money but credit with which to purchase the seed for crops the current year. Their stock or what has not been wrongfully 1582 AS THE WORLD GIVETH taken from them has all been eaten to sustain life. In the fifty provinces of Russia every thousand farms in the year 1900 required and actually possessed about 6500 head of stock, or between 77,000 and 78,000 in the several departments. In 27 of those departments at least, all the farm stock has practically disap- peared : killed for food or perished from star- vation. Under Russian farming conditions it has been said, a farm without horses is no more a farm than a knife without a blade. Without money or credit when can these peasants replace the stock or the seed abso- lutely necessary for the support of their own life, and under existing political conditions how many years must elapse before this des- titution terminates, and at the price of how much misery and the loss of how many more lives ?^ *It appears that disease is daily adding to the terrors of famine in Russia. So recently as the 6th April of this cur- rent year. "Scurvj-^ is making great strides in the famine districts. The official reports for the second fortnight of March show 1,055 cases in Ufa Province and 717 in Saratov, compared with 438 cases in Ufa the first fortnight of March and 356 in Saratov Province during the same period." When and where is this scourge to be arrested? Z591 PEACE GIVEN To some minds there is another and more compendious way of estimating the destruc- tion of property sustained by Russia since her army was released from the lockout of the Japanese, a way by which we may estimate the minimum of that loss with satisfactory precision. The Russian and Japanese envoys at Washington were escorted ceremoniously in one of our ships of war to Oyster Bay to be presented to each other by the President, for the purpose of initiating peace negotiations, on the 5th of August, 1905. On the first of the previous month the Russian state debt was at least four thousand millions, or four bil- lions of dollars. Below we give a table of quotations of Rus- sian securities taken from the columns of the Paris Matin of July, 1905, and another of the same securities on September 1, 1906. By these tables it appears that the depreciation in value of those securities averaged during this, the first year of the peace, considerably over 25%. One loan of $2,718,151,809, 4 per cent., fell to 17 and 17%%. The 5 per cent, treas- 1:603 AS THE WORLD GIVETH ury bonds, $2,751,258,000, fell 24% ; while 4 per cent, railroad bonds guaranteed by the government fell, — those of 1903, 94% ; those of 1889, 97%; and those of 1899, 98%. As- suming the average decline to be only 25 per' cent, on the whole indebtedness of the empire, the depreciation could not have been less than one billion of dollars. DEPRECIATION OF RUSSIAN SECURITIES BETWEEN JULY 1, 1905, AND SEPTEMBER 1, 1906 ^"^^me^L'k"^'^^"'- ^fy^^ SePy^ I^epre- le Matin ofF^ris ^^^^ 1^«« ^^^^^^^ 4% 1867-1869 86.60 73.40 13.50 4% 1880 c. de 20 86.30 72. 14.30 4% 1889 c. de 20 85. 70. 15. 4% 1890 ge & 3e c. 20 ... 84.85 70.07 14.78 4% 1890 4^ c. 20 89.50 72. 17.50 4% 1893 5^ c. 20 . 87. 70. 17. 4% 1894 c. de 20 87. 69.90 17.10 4% cons, ler 2^ c. 20 86.30 70.80 15.50 4% cons. 3^ c. 20 87.60 70.55 9.90 4% 1901 c. 20 88. 70.35 17.65 3% 1891 72.50 59.50 13. 3% 1896 . 71.15 57.60 13.55 31/2 1894 c. 17cts 50 79.35 62.85 16.50 Bons du Tresor 5% 1904 Rentes 496. 472. 24. Cei] PEACE GIVEN Quotations of Russian Secur- ities taken from le Matin of Paris July 1, 1905 Sept. 1, 1906 Depre- ciation 4% 1894 c. 42 Guaranty . 84. 69.60 14.40 Obi. 4% Donetz R. R. ... 83.50 71.50 12. 4% Divinsk-Vitebsk R. R. 87.80 71.50 16.30 4% Koursk. Kh. 1889 R.R 546. 448. 98. 4% Orel-Griasi 1889 R.R. 547. 450. 97. 4% Riga-Div. 1894 R. R. 83. 72. 11. 3% Trans-Caucasien R. R. 72.50 60.50 12. 4% Transc. c. SO Guar- antys 90.25 70. 20.25 Lettre de gage 3% Guar- anty 76.10 60.10 16. Obi. 4% ch. fer 1903 . . .436. 342. 94. It may be said with entire justice that these securities may recover one of these days ; that a more conciliatory attitude of the govern- ment towards the new Duma now in session may improve the market for some of them. Should the Duma live long enough to ter- minate its deliberations by a voluntary ad- journment and not be dismissed by a vis a tergo from the Czar, the ignoble fate of its predecessor, the market would be likely to ex- perience a substantial improvement to the great advantage of the government's credit, i:62] AS THE WORLD GIVETH and the great comfort of their then owners, but of none whatever to the unfortunates who have parted with them. This loss has all of it been sustained in money by those who had to sacrifice them, and in credit, by the govern- ment; and credit is a commodity of which every government stands the more in need the less it has. I think it no exaggeration to say that each of the belligerents might have con- tinued fighting at a far greater daily expense than either incurred during the war for at least three years longer, and the aggregate damages to both would have been less than Russia sustained in a single year from the ratification of this treaty of peace. Had the war continued only another year it requires no prophet to predict that the Duma of 1906 would not have been precipitately and igno- miniously closed by the Czar; his government might now be far advanced in the establish- ment of a system of ParHamentary govern- ment which would have granted his subjects all the privileges they are united in requiring, and all for which they are prepared as yet per- haps to make a good use. [633 PEACE GIVEN HOW MUCH HAS THE PEACE OF PORTSMOUTH CONTRIBUTED TO THE HAPPINESS AND WEL- FARE OF THE PEOPLE OF RUSSIA? The war with Japan was provoked by Rus- sia's occupation of Port Arthur, which Japan had been constrained by the other powers to surrender to China, and which she regarded as one of the legitimate prizes of her war with that empire. This occupation of Port Ar- thur by Russia was practically the occupa- tion of Manchuria, a menace to Korea, and the exposure of Japan to a very undesirable neighbor. As a consequence diplomatic rela- tions between Russia and Japan terminated in February, 1905. In a few days followed the utter destruction of the Russian navy by the Japanese, the capture of Port Arthur from Russia and during the next eight months a succession of battles in the field uniformly followed by the defeat of the Rus- sians, who were driven out of Manchuria and well on toward their European frontier until relieved by the negotiations at Portsmouth. AS THE WORLD GIVETH Among the results of these successive defeats of the St. Petersburg government has been the arrest of nearly all the officers having the most important commands in these several engagements, the trial of most, and the con- viction of many of cowardice, corruption, or incompetence, and of a knavish perversion of the supplies provided for the army, by the officials through whose hands they passed. Among not the least serious consequences of these degrading accusations has been the utter extinction of Russia's power on the ocean and, from being the most formidable military power in Europe, becoming one of the feeblest; and, as a necessary incident, the serious impairment of her financial credit throughout the world. The Russian people naturally impute all these humiliations to their government, some to its present personnel, but more and more justly to the autocratic system itself by which Russia has been hitherto governed. There are many still living who remember the wild acclaim with which the manifesto abolishing serfdom in Russia by the Czar, 165:1 PEACE GIVEN Alexander II, on the 19th of February, 1861, was received throughout the world, and espe- cially to us to whom it came as a rebuke, ours being the only republic holding several mil- lions of our fellow creatures in bondage. It may also have given a new impulse to the desperate and sanguinary struggle destined in due time to eliminate from our constitution whatever protection it gave to property in slaves. Never was a greater delusion than that that manifesto of Russia's sovereign meant an amelioration in the condition of the serf. It provided that the slave was to be freed, but with no other compensation for past services or provision for his future support than an allotment of land theoretically assumed to be sufficient to provide for his personal needs and to discharge his obligations to the state for his land. For this land he was ultimately to pay, the government undertaking to guar- anty and collect its price from the peasant in instalments distributed over a period of forty- nine years. This, and all other taxes, were collected by the government through the vil- li 661] AS THE WORLD GIVETH lage commune, for which its members were not only jointly but severally responsible. How the peasants were cheated by the offi- cers and the landlords is a long and dreary story. It is enough to say here that the allot- ments as a rule were so arranged as to make the peasantry rather the slaves than serfs of the landlords. His land holdings were ser- iously diminished in its dimensions ; he could not leave his place without permission of the authorities; the land given him was not his own; he could not even say to the authorities: "Keep your land and let me go," which many would have liked. The taxes on most of these allotments exceed many times what they could possibly be made to produce. The peasant could leave it only on a condition that he paid the taxes, which it was clearly in- tended he should never be able to do. As a serf he had been liable to be flogged by the landowner. Now he was liable to be flogged not only by a decision of any village court, but at the pleasure of any petty police official. He thus became hopelessly the slave of the state. PEACE GIVEN The disappointment of the peasantry at the result of their changed conditions nat- urally became very bitter. The freedom so feverishly expected and fervently prayed for had to be introduced only too often with the help of the military. During the first two years after the publication of the abolition act, from February 19, '61, to February 19, '63, the Department of the Interior had to suppress more than 1100 agrarian riots. The taxes on the land exceeded the income from it from 100% to 500%. The state took from the peasant not only all that the land could possibly produce, but a large share of what he could gain outside as a factory-hand, blacksmith, driver, woodchopper, farm-hand, etc. These taxes gradually so reduced the producing power of the land, the necessary stock for its cultivation, and the necessary sustenance for the inhabitants, as to cause the Russian peasants to physically degenerate from year to year. Though to meet the exi- gencies of the public service, men who would have been rejected from the army some years ago are now pressed into the service, and. AS THE WORLD GIVETH therefore, the increase of the percentage of the rejected does not fully express the physical deterioration of the Russian soldier, yet the official statistics show results sufficiently alarming. Throughout the fifty provinces of European Russia from 1874 to 1883 the proportion of the rejected soldiers was 6.4, while during the ten following years from 1894 to 1901 the rejections were 10.3— al- most double. The peasants not only became slaves of the state in economic dependence on the landlord, but in order to pay taxes which their own land allotments could not furnish, the peasants were compelled to rent more acres from the landlords and always at the landlords' own price. This developed a pe- culiar contract labor tenant system. The land is rented every year at an extremely high figure which the peasant, of course, is not able to pay in money but is expected to work out on the landlord's estate. The peasant's work is priced extremely low, as a rule at about one half of the prevailing wages, for he cannot go elsewhere for employment— he is at the mercy of his landlord. Under these 1691 PEACE GIVEN circumstances he cannot meet his obligations ; his indebtedness to the landlord naturally ac- cumulates from year to year. In this way a landlord gets field labor at a cost much lower than the cost of the laborers' subsistence, be- sides getting the use of their farming stock at the same rate. The peasant as a rule finds himself obliged to use his own farm horses while he has any, on the landlord's estate. So much has this become the case that a very large percentage of estates have ceased keep- ing any farming stock, relying entirely upon that of the dependent peasants. The Russian peasant now rarely harvests enough grain to feed the household throughout the year. As a rule the whole of his harvest is consumed by December, after which he is obliged to get money or bread on any condition offered him. His landlord, of course, has to advance him bread or money, to secure his service, but in doing so binds him to work out the loan on the lender's estate. In this way the peasant gets gradually farther in debt to the landlord for one, two, three or more years ahead at wages from 47% to 50% lower than he might 1:70] AS THE WORLD GIVETH get if free to go elsewhere and of course cor- respondingly heavier links to the chains by which he is bound. He actually pays for the bread or the money received from the land- lord from 47% to 50% interest for six months of the year. This is known as ''bread usury." Not only are such contracts permitted by the government, but their specific performance is enforced and their breach is treated as a mis- demeanor. The police are required to bring to the landlord all contracted laborers who have left the landlord's fields before the work was completed. Such a runaway peasant is liable to detention in jail for one month, which brings him yet more in debt because of his lost time. This is a brief and very inadequate de- scription of the condition of ninety per cent, of the population of Russia, for which it is impossible to devise any apology or a single extenuating circumstance, and it strips the Czar, Alexander II, of his only claim to be gratefully remembered either by his own sub- jects or by posterity. It is a condition of things, too, which palliates> if it does not ex- PEACE GIVEN cuse, horrors of which Russia has been the theatre of late years without precedent in modern history. Sad as the condition of the Russian peasant has been made by the conversion of his serf- dom, it is not all nor the worst of the evils which the Portsmouth peace conference has incurred the distinction of aiding to perpetu- ate. The St. Petersburg government has neglected no artifice that Satan could devise to extinguish not only all power but all hope of any substantial amelioration of the condi- tion of the Russian proletariat. It has shown itself wilfully blind to the perils which threaten it. It persists with seemingly in- creasing obstinacy in exploiting one hundred and thirty millions of Russians for the ex- clusive and selfish advantage of one or per- haps two hundred thousand privileged per- sons. That hundred and twenty-eight or nine millions had no representation of any sort at the seat of government until the financial exigencies incident to the war with Japan compelled some concession and was in the way of securing more, had not this prospect AS THE WORLD GIVETH been arbitrarily clouded by a premature peace. The education of the peasantry is systematically discouraged by the governing class. In fact every educated man in Russia, not avowedly a reactionary, incurs the suspi- cion of being politically a criminal. Since the Portsmouth peace the universities have been closed much of the time because the stu- dents were all clamorous for the rights and privileges enjoyed by their class at other universities in Europe and in America. The censorship of the press is so severe that only about three per cent, of the few books allowed to be sold in Russia— in all a very limited number — are permitted to be placed in vil- lage libraries. There is practically no such thing as a news- paper in Russia at present, as that word is understood in England, France, or America. In the year 1906 it was ascertained that of the political agitators— we should call them reformers— 851 were condemned to penal sentences, 523 newspapers and magazines were suppressed, and 647 editors were prose- cuted,— most of them were sent to prison. CVS] PEACE GIVEN It is still impossible to publicly discuss any remedy for existing abuses which con- templates a reasonably representative gov- ernment as one of its means, even for a parhamentary government, if it limits the absolutism of the Czar. When we come to reaUze the condition we have here only too inadequately described, are we surprised that assassination should be glorified by the victims of that condition into a virtue ; that the adder of Terrorism, like the sling and five smooth stones in the hands of the son of Jesse, should symboUze in their eyes the single-handed enfranchisement of a people; that Brutus rather than Caesar should be their ideal reformer? God forbid that I should utter a word in extenuation of the criminal assassin, but let us not delude ourselves with the idea that it is the number of the combatants that distinguish the soldier from the assassin. One man can make war as legitimately as a regiment if ready alone to encounter a regimented enemy; sees no other or so efficient a way of delivering his fellow creatures from a degrading thraldom AS THE WORLD GIVETH and thus deliberately, like any other soldier, risks his life to terrify its oppressors. The deep blue sea becomes colourless in a drop but the drop is just as salt as the ocean. Equally delusive is the alchemy by which killing be- comes glory when the victims are an army in- stead of a captain. By what other weapon than that of terror can the Russian patriot at the present day strike an effective blow for liberty? The army with which Gideon levied war upon the Moabites was reduced from 30,000 to 300, "lest," said the Lord, the sol- diers "vaunt themselves against me saying, 'Mine own hand hath saved me.' " When Rome was threatened by a Tuscan army and the Roman Consul cried: " 'The bridge must strait go down ; For, since Janiculum is lost. Nought else can save the town' — ***** "Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate: *To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. 1:753 PEACE GIVEN And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods ?' " When Moses saw one of his oppressed brethren in Egypt suffering wrong at the hands of an Egyptian and avenged him by smiting the wrongdoer, "he supposed that his brethren understood how that God by hi& hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not."^ Forty years had to elapse before they were able to trust him to lead them out of Egypt and slavery. Jonathan, the Son of Saul, was not the last person to learn by experience that "it may be the Lord will work for us : for there is no re- straint to the Lord to save by many or by few." There is another delusion against which there is present need that we should be spe- cially on our guard. The separation of bel- ligerents does not imply peace. It is not the * Acts of the Apostles. Ch, vii. 25, 26. ere] AS THE WORLD GIVETH roar of the guns nor the clatter of the swords that constitute war, and when both are silent war may go on even more fiercely than be- fore. Hate, vengeance, jealousy, envy, cov- etousness, ambition, treachery, cowardice, survive in imimpaired vigor with their inex- haustible arsenal of calumny, misrepresenta- tion, intrigue, corruption, poisons, daggers, and conspiracies at home and abroad, and finally Peace Conferences. Peace has been described by one of the wisest of modern philosophers as "like the spring which makes everything in the world rejoice/' Peace means reconciliation. It means a desire to do to others as you would wish them to do under like circumstances to you. The man or nation at peace covets noth- ing of his neighbor and claims nothing to which he is not better entitled than any other. Who would pretend that the peace negotiated at Portsmouth corresponds to any of these conditions? It was involuntary on both sides and himianly speaking it has proved an inter- national calamity. In this peace Providence seems to have visited the Russians with one of 1:773 PEACE GIVEN the most memorable of curses in letting "their table before them become a snare and when they are in peace let it become a trap."^ From his birth man is providentially en- gaged in a continuous war with the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life. Jesus himself came into this world to bring not peace but a sword with which to war against these in- firmities. Nor is the crown of victory over them ever awarded even to the most regener- ate in this life. Jesus himself only achieved that victory on the cross. It is by the reaction of nature only, not by the medicine which provokes the reaction, that bodily disease is cured. So it is only by the providential reaction of everlasting jus- tice against himian wrongs that society is elevated and the two great commandments acquire adherents. No men or nation that wish to steal, rob, or murder can be made either honest or righteous by an arbitrary de- feat of their purposes. Who would have the hardihood to pretend that a Hague Tribunal, had it been in existence in 1776, would have ^ Psalm Ixix. 22. AS THE WORLD GIVETH given to the North American colonists a ver- dict with which the world would be as well satisfied as that which was won by the last argument of kings ? Or is it to be supposed for a moment that a legion of Hague Tri- bunals could have settled peacefully our recent Civil War or prevented or delayed the Franco-German War long enough for Mr. Carnegie to recite the Lord's Prayer? Who is Quixotic enough to suppose, after what has occurred during the past two years, that the Russian hierarchy can ever be persuaded or forced to grant its people a decent, even a tolerable, government without bloodshed? There have been a great many wicked wars on one side or the other, but it is difficult to name any one important war that did not in- volve important results which otherwise could not have been realized, except after much de- lay and at greater sacrifices than were ac- tually suffered. The Russo-Japanese War will surely prove to be in the long run one of the latter, though this far it may appear only like the shirt of the Centaur Nessus to Her- 1:793 PEACE GIVEN cules or the shields of the Roman legions to Tarpeia. Of the approaching conference of the Hague delegates our Secretary of State did not speak at the recent Carnegie Hall revel with the enthusiasm which would lead one to suppose that the very stones in the street would cry out if they did not. The dispro- portion of bread to sack in his introduction of the subject was notable. "The second conference is about to meet amid universal recognition that it is of practical significance. It commands re- spect; its possibilities are the object of so- licitude ; the resolutions which it may reach are anticipated as of probable potency in the affairs of nations ; it is not regarded as an occasion for mere academic discussion, but it finds its place among the agencies by which the world is governed. I cannot doubt that it will accomphsh much for the benefit of mankind ; that in many things it will bring the practice of nations into closer conformity with those great princi- [80] AS THE WORLD GIVETH pies of conduct to which nations have ac- corded such ready assent in theory but such reluctant compliance when their particular interests are involved. "In regard to the possibility of an agree- ment as to the limitation of armed forces by land and the sea and of war budgets, he is as wary as the colored brother who said to the snake: "If you '11 let me alone I 11 let you alone" ; he would not have his delegates dogmatize on these subjects, that in fact, they concern us so little that they are prac- tically none of our business. We have not been unmindful of the fact that the ques- tion is one which primarily and in its pres- ent stage concerns Europe rather than America; that the conditions which have led to the great armaments of the present day are mainly European conditions, and that it would ill become us to be forward or dogmatic in a matter which is so much more vital to the nations of Europe than to ourselves. It sometimes happens, however, that a State having little or no special ma- terial interest in a proposal can for that [81] PEACE GIVEN very reason advance the proposal with the more advantage and the less prejudice. The American Government accordingly, at an early stage of the discussion regard- ing the programme, reserved the right to present this subject for the consideration of the conference. Several European pow- ers have also given notice of their intention to present the subject. It may be that the discussion will not bring the second confer- ence to any definite and practical conclu- sion; certainly no such conclusion can be effective unless it meet with practically universal assent, for there can be no effec- tive agreement which binds some of the great powers and leaves others free. There are serious difficulties in formulating any definite proposal which would not be ob- jectionable to some of the powers, and upon the question whether any specific proposal is unfair and injurious to its interests each power must be, and is entitled to be, its own judge. "Nevertheless, the effort can be made ; it may fail in this conference, as it failed in [82] AS THE WORLD GIVETH the first, but even if it fails one more step will have been taken toward ultimate suc- cess. Long continued and persistent effort is always necessary to bring mankind into conformity with great ideals." No one can gainsay a word of this; it is true as the multiplication table and — just the kind of homely truth for a little girl to work into a sampler. But while people fight for ideals, it should be remembered that ideals are not the weapons with which they fight. Be- sides, an English gentleman who speaks with authority has recently given us to understand that we have no poets in this country to sup- ply us with ideals, nor much prospect of any. Therefore, even our accomplished Secretary of State does not encourage us to expect that our contribution to the cause of Peace and the re- duction of military and naval budgets will be a record one. I will even allow myself to sus- pect that he shares a quite prevalent public sentiment that Providence, and science— one of its instruments— are doing far more for the cause of Peace than will ever be accom- PEACE GIVEN plished by crying Peace where there is no peace. As hunger providentially makes peo- ple industrious and frugal to relieve it, so the increasing cost of war is making friends for peace, while Portsmouth conferences Hague tribunals or Carnegie-Hall revellers are only making faces and phrases about it. There is no argument for peace so unan- swerable as an empty exchequer; and every year science and a merciful Providence are shortening the possible duration of every future war, while its own increasing penalties of blood and treasure are making the nations proportionately less reckless in provoking one. Peace is only welcome to the average man when he finds nothing in sight worth the cost of fighting for it, — that is, when his appetites are limited by reason or controlled by neces- sity, and as President Roosevelt suggests by righteousness. Centuries must elapse before the Hague Tribunal can settle any international contro- versy that could not be just as well or better settled by established diplomatic agencies, or such as, if occurring in Elihu Root's pri- vate practice, would be sent to a sheriff's jury. 1:84] AS THE WORLD. GiVETiHt The International Hague Tribunal had its origin practically only a few years ago with a dynasty which is said to rule over one sev- enth of the habitable globe, nearly if not quite '^ every acre of which has been acquired by predatory wars. Ever since the establish- ment of that Tribunal Russia has been con- tinuously at war, but which of the powers that united in recommending the Portsmouth Conference ever suggested that the differ- ences between Russia and Japan should be referred to that Tribunal; which of the European sovereignties was endowed with a brain so much more fertile than prolific as to take the initiative in recommending the Portsmouth Conference; or which even now will venture to denounce the torturing the in- mates of Russian prisons to force from them confessions of their own or their comrades' mutinous conduct, thus reported in the Even- ing Post so recently as the 23d April, 1907: "M. Pergament, a prominent lawyer of Kherson, read the reports of the interpella- tion committee, which contained details of about seventy cases of alleged torture. It ^EACE GIVEN was declared that the victims were beaten on sensitive parts of their bodies with Cos- sacks' whips, and rubber rods; that their jJnger nails and hair were pulled out, etc. The tortures in a number of cases were pro- longed for eight or ten days. One man, who was only twenty-two years old, looked like an old man after having been tortured. "The vice-minister for the interior, M. Makaroff, reported that the charges brought against the prison officials of Riga in March were shown to be well-founded. The prisoners were clubbed by the police when arrested, and also to force confessions from them." During the very week in which the prison cells of St. Petersburg were the theatres of these peaceful amenities, shiploads of foreign notabilities were imported into the United States to participate in an international revel in honor of our apostolate of peace. Peace indeed! Peace given as the World giveth. Creating a desert and calling it Peace. !'i.«8i8!^^'>i UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. JAN 5 ms \\0^^ 6^^^ OUT 'r.?52. i 90ct60LE NOI/l7'64-9 DEC27'66-lPfl ^ LOAN D--^T •r RECEIVED NOV 12 1982 ■inL OtTl2'82 f'M LD 21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 Tb clb^bZ LIBRARY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. THIS BOOK IS DUE BEFORE CLOSING TIME ON LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW MBRARYUSE N0Vl7'B4ji ^ny,^ '64- Pif LIBRARY USE i€&6EiSi/^7 FEB fe'67"8ftW LOAN DEPT. LD 62A-50m-2,'64 (E3494sl0)9412A General Library University of California Berkeley