Peace Conference at the Hague and Its Origin
JUAN IE IILOni
A Russian J3ook
Tint ! Its 'Effect
( Copyrighted by the S. 8. SlcOluro Co. )
tHNlNUfcJN. . Jiollund , July 14. An
uunslatlort oT .M. lluiirt ilu iHoch's
giu.u work uu war nas juat been bucureil tur
publication lu America.
isul lliu czar , bui M. Uu illi/ch , IB thu
fulhur ot tliu puacu couturuitcu ai Thu auguu.
U wild my guod fortune to seu nliu wuun Uu
\\ua on tuu vury ground mid waichlnL' the
tromomloii.-i lusult iI Ina llfu's lubur.
-M. du Illueli la u iiiuu ( it Go. ilu Is abort.
Ilu Is lul. Uu IB gray-hu.idud. Ills bearu la
trimmed clusuly to Ills uhlti. Great shaggy
uyubrowa overhang u mar of piercing eyes.
.M. do Jiloch , wbuu hu bocuiuus thu least
excited , Id llurcu In uppuiinmcu und lu iiiuii-
nur. Ilu Id thu lust 1111111 who woiutl at thosu
llniua bu itukou for an advocutu ul pc'.ieu.
Ilu la always uxcltud whun hu lu talking.
Early in hi a youth hu became Impiussud
by thu u\sful horrors of wur. liu began to
iiiako u study of them. Uu euusldured thu
cunt of war lu nilsury and In money and hu
conaldured ita rosulta. ilu found thu two
Incommensurate. Uu took up every phase
of arguments ot men who had planned means
of preventing war. in tliose daya moat of
thcHo niun wuro dreamers and their plans
were wild nud uni > ructleal. Hut Uloeli did
not despair.
liu was fortunate and thu world waa for-
tunatu In that ho was Immensely rich und
could afford to carry on Ills studies uu-
trammelud by thu limitations of poverty.
Uu duvotud bin time to an any Important
mattom In his own country and became
loved and honored throughout Poland and
Russia. Hut nuvur for u moment did hu for
got his one illusion that of alleviating the
horrors of war. Uu btudlod , studied , studied.
Ills work was unceasing , ills arguments
wuro unending. From ovury quarter of thu
earth ha gathered material on the subject
which always lllled his mind. At last , eight
years ago , hu had absolutely mastered hlu
great mibjoct. lie had not satisfied himself
with knowing all about modern wars and
thulr miseries ; hu had begun at thu begin
ning , Ills Information concerning the early
Greek and Human wars was scarcely loss
complete than thu moss of material ho had
gathered concerning the Franco-Prussian and
ether great armed struggles of his own
tlnio.
lli'KlimliiK Wurlfi
"At last , night yeura ago , " ho said to me ,
" 1 found myself In a position where I could
really begin my work. Everything up to
that tlmu had beun preliminary. I then sat
down and wrote my llttlu book. "
M. do Illoch'H English Is somewhat diffi
cult to understand at llrst. Ho speaks It In
common with about ten ether languages , of
which French and Russian ( his native lan
guage ) IB his favorite. Ills English accent
' .vmiuiv.v.'Uat gruff , In keeping with the llorco
oxpromlon of his face. But there was noth
ing gruff about the way ho said :
"Lot mo bring you n copy of my little
book. "
Ho left the room anil came back In about
llvu minutes with his arms full of his "little
book. "
There aru elx volumes ot that "little
hook , " and they are largo volumes. The
million which ho gave mo had beau hur
riedly prepared and wno a French transla
tion of the Russian original. The pictures
had been lifted bodily from the Russian
edition and their tltlra wuro printed In the
puzzling characters of that dllllcult lan
guage. Ho explained them to mo until I
'becuino confused by their vast number.
Theru are 1,200 pictures In M , do Hloch'a
llttlo book.
Its llrst flvo volumes are devoted to an
exhaustive study of war In all Its branches
and In nil lie details. They amount prac
tically to an encyclopedia of everything
connected with battles and with fighting
men , No ether ono man has ever accom
plished so tremendous n work of research.
Thu first volume IB a description of the
mechanism of war. It deals with everything
from the cross-bow of the ancients to the
smokolws powder of today. It tells of
formications , It deal of features of attack
und defense ; It omits nothing.
AiuiTifu Ovi-rluoUcil.
The second volume U headed "Tho War
Upon the Continent. " Unfortunately , and
now greatly to bis own regret , M. do Ulooli
L
ALFRED T. MAHAN.
failed to consider America as a lighting pos
sibility at thu time this volume was written.
Ho studies In detail the effectiveness of
European armlet ) , discusses their existing
preparations for war , their plans of mobiliza
tion , the training of tholr ofllcers , the trainIng -
Ing of their soldiers , their camps , their
fortresses , the possibilities ) of night and day
lighting , the general esprit du corps , tbo
operations of alt of them during the wars
which have occurred In the last century ; In
deed , ho omits no ono thing which might by
any possibility be useful to tbo student.
This v < liimo alone contains more than 800
pages.
Thu third volume Is thu briefest and thu
least Important of his work. It deals with
naval warfare and the subject Is not com
petently treated.
In thu fourth volume ho treats of
economical problems and their probable
effect In the war of the future. It goes Into
the subject ( of course Intensely Interesting
to America ) of the supply and maintenance
of troops. It considers the cost of the
military an compared with the revenues of
all nations. It shows what tremendous ad
vances in rotative cost will mark the war
of the future. It points out the Inequality
of tho' preparations for war made by dif
ferent European countries , and It shows the
Influence different factors have on the spirit
of armies and the character of their prepara
tions for war.
The fifth volume tells of the development
of the Idea that may lead toward peace. It
gore Into detail concerning the literature of
perpetual pence among civilized peoples. It
deals with socialism , with anarchy and wild
thu propaganda of antl-mllltnrlsm. It tells
of the different Ideas of various countries
concerning causes for war. It discusses the
Inlluenco of armies actually In existence
upon the people of the different countries.
It goes Into the matter of wounds and sick
nesses resulting from war most exhaustively
uven to the point of calculating the pene
tration and general effect of every bullet
now In use by a civilized nation. The mar
velous detail of this volume cannot be de
scribed In a brief artlcU. No possible
point IB omitted and every conceivable de
tail Is given In full. The records of ( tie
United Stairs government concerning the ef
fects of wounds during the civil war have
never been mora completely summarized
than aru thu studies of M. do Bloch In this
volume.
AI n uriil ti > < > > - * of tli * * Work.
Hut It Is In the sixth volume that M. de
Illoch says those things which It has been his
mission to say. Over thirty different head-
FREDERICK HOLLS.
ings , each ono elaborate in Ita detail , are
covered In this ono book. I am not writing
a criticism of M. do BlocU's "War. " I am
merely trying to give an Idea of the magnitude -
tudo of the work. I doubt If there la a human
being today who Is competent to criticise
M. Bloch's marvelous book Certainly no one
have In my possession some typewritten
copies In French and English of his notes on
das over studied the subject as ho has. I
certain subheads on the ono matter of the
Impossibility of aiding wounded on the field
of battle. Ills revised and condensed notes
amount to fifty closely typewritten pages.
An extremely brief sketch of what ho haste
to say about the penetration of modern
rllle bullets covers forty-three pages.
It Is In the sixth volume that ho sum
marizes his arguments. Before it Is half
finished ho leaves his descriptions of war
and hla data concerning battles and sol
diers and begins to speculate on tbo possi
ble ways of preventing International con
flicts. In order to Justify the statement
which I make near the beginning of this
article , that M. do Bloch and not the czar
Is the father of the peace conference , < I
must again call the reader's attention to
the fact that this book alone occupied in the
mere writing eight full years , and that be
fore ho could begin writing It bo bad to
spend almost an entire lifetime In the
gathering of Information. Thus his idea
long antedated the czar's. His plan of in
ternational arbitration aa suggested In this
final volume of bis book Is almost identical
with the plan laid down by the czar in the
call for a peace conference , which ho Issued
to the nations of tbo earth.
After M. do Bloch bad 'brought ' In his
"llttlo book" to me ho spoke very freely
concerning the International European situ
ation. Ho discussed tbo terrific burden ol
armament which the nations of Europe are
obliged to carry and talked of tbo awful
hardships which compulsory military serv
ice works upon the citizens of the countries
where It is practiced.
Of himself ho would say nothing.
At the Mountain House
i
I'uck : "Isn't It magnificent ? " exclaimed
the enthusiastic boarder. "I've always
wanted to see a storm in the mountains.
You remember Byron's lines , of course ?
"From peak to peak , the rattling crags
among ,
Leans the live thunder. "
"It sort of worries me , " replied the other
party.
"Why ? Are you afraid of lightning ? "
"Rather. I am afraid the landlord may
charge for this storm In his bill. "
ANDREW D. WHITE.
A Famous Feud
Senator Chandler of Now Hampshire , who
has just had a warm controversy with his
colleague , Senator Galllngor , over civil serv
ice reform , was the central figure In a
famous controversy. In the senate In 1879 , of
which ex-Senator Ingalls writes In the Sat
urday Evening Post of Philadelphia. The
pending question was a bill pensioning .Mexi
can soldiers. As this would Include all
southerners who fought in that war , the bill
urovoked a sectional debate. Senator Hoar
offered an amendment excluding Jefferson
Davis from the operation of the act. This
precipitated a crisis. Senator Garland
eulogized the president of the confederacy
and Senator Hoar retorted , "Two of the
bravest ofllcers of our revolutionary war
were Aaron Burr and Benedict Arnold. "
Senator Lamar jumped into the breash
with an Impassioned speech , concluding with
these words : "When Prometheus was bounJ
to the rock , It was not an eagle , It was a
vulture that burled his beak In the tortured
vitals of the victim ! "
During this eulogy and exculpation of
Jefferson Davis the northern senators sat
In silence ; the boldness of the performance
was paralyzing , such an emergency had not
been anticipated. No ono was ready. The
passionate and excited spectators in the gal
leries wondered why no champion of the
north took up tbo glove.
Toward the close of the debate a note
fluttered over the balustrade of the north
east gallery , and , wavering In the hot air ,
was caught In Its descent 'by ' a page , -who
carried it to Senator Chandler of Michigan ,
to whom It was addressed. It was written
on a leaf torn from a memorandum book ,
without signature , and begging htm in God's
name to say something for the union sol
diers and for the north.
He read the anonymous note brought from
the gallery. The Wack fury of his eyes
blazed from the pallor of his face. At the
first opportunity ho obtained the floor and
delivered a tremendous philippic against
Jefferson Davis. It was evidently wholly
unpremeditated , and therefore the more ef
fective.
Ho said : "Mr. President , twenty-two
years ago tomorrow , In the old ball of the
senate now occupied by the supreme court
of the United States , I , In company with
Mr. Jefferson Davis , stood up and swore
before Almighty God that I would support
the constitution of the United States. Mr.
Jefferson Davis came from the cabinet of
Franklin Pierce Into the senate of the
United States and took the oath with mete
to be faithful to this government. During
WEST END OP THE LAGOON , GREATER AMERICA EXPOSITION
SETH LOW.
four years I sat in this body with Mr. Jef
ferson Davis and saw the preparations going
on from day to day for the overthrow of
this government. With treason In bis
heart and perjury upon his lips he took the
oath to sustain the government that be
meant to overthrow.
"Sir , there Was method In that madness.
He , lu co-operation with other men from his
section and In tbo cabinet of Mr. Buchanan ,
made careful preparation for the event that
was to follow. Your armies were scattered
ah' over this broad land , where they could
not be used In an emergency ; your fleets
were scattered wherever the winds blow and
water was found to float them , where they
could not bo used to put down rebellion ;
your treasury was depleted until your bonds ,
bearing G per cent , principal and Interest
payable In coin , were offered for 88 cents
on the dollar for current expenses , and no
buyers. Preparations were carefully made.
Your arms were sold under an apparently
Innocent clause in an army bill providing
that the secretary of war might , at his dis
cretion , sell sucb arms as he deemed it for
the interest of the government to sen.
"Sir , eighteen years ago last month I sat
In these halls and listened to Jefferson Davis
delivering bis farewell address , Informing
us what our constitutional duties to this
government were , and then he left and en
tered into the rebellion to overthrow the
government that ho had sworn to support !
I remained here , sir , during the whole of
that terrible rebellion. I saw our bravo
soldiers by thousands and hundreds of thou
sands , aye , I might say millions , pass
through to the theater of war , and I saw
their shattered ranks return. I saw steam
boat after steamboat and railroad train after
railroad train arrive with the maimed and
the wounded ; I was with my friend from
Rhode Island ( General Burnslde ) when be
commanded the 'Army ' of the Potomac and
saw piles of legs and arms that made
humanity shudder ; I saw the widow and
orphan In their homes and heard the weep
ing and walling of those who had lost their
dearest and their best. Mr. President , I
little thought at that tlmo that I should live
to hear In the senate of the United States
eulogies upon Jefferson Davis living a living
rebel eulogized on the floor of the senate of
the United States ! Sir , I am amazed to
hear It and I can tell the gentlemen on the
ether side that they iiitlo know the spirit
of the north when they come hero at thla
day and with bravado on their lips utter
eulogies upon a man whom every man ,
woman and child In tbo. north believes to
be a double-dyed traitor to his government. "
Typewritten Records
The permanency of typewritten records Is
a subject of no llttlo Importance , says the
Albany Law Journal , and It Is worthy of
note that a series of experiments Is being
conducted in Boston with a view of estab
lishing tbo relative value of the leading
brands of typewriter ribbons. Robert T.
Swan , tbo state commissioner of public
records for the state of Massachusetts , Is
doing some good work In this direction. Hu
finds that of the different colors used for
typewriter ribbons , the red , green , blue nud
purpro are not permanent , black being the
only one that will stand the tests to which
ho subjects the writing.
The legislature of Massachusetts , which
recently adjourned , passed an act permit
ting typewritten records to bo accepted as
olllclal when approved by the commissioner
of public records , Now York , Pennsylvania
and New Jersey having previously taken
similar action. In older words , no such
records will bo accepted unless the mate
rials used are up to the standard , and the
commissioner Is expressly authorized by
thu statute referred to to withdraw bis ap
proval1 at any tlmo when he shall find that
the articles used fall below such standard.
This is a very Important matter which
should be acted upon In every state , for the
fading of public records so as to become
Illegible Is something that aught to bo care
fully provided against , otherwise it were
much better to keep in force the provision
that legal records shall bo written only with
pen and ink.
It Is possible , we think , to produce type
written records that are quite as permanent
as any produced by writing with a pen , and
In view of the greater legibility of the
former , as well as their economy of produc
tion , It Is desirable that this should bo done.
While the states generally have no olllclal
corresponding to the commissioner of ! > /
lie records In Massachusetts , it ougyx this
made somebody's business to supefl ° ney n
matter of permanency of public nice. I'll