Periodical Peace Conferences

Abstract

“ The law of nations is naturally based upon the principle that different nations in time of peace shall do each other the most good and in time of war the least evil possible.” — Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, iii. I.When Count Mouravieff, at the order of the Emperor of Russia, convoked the first peace conference by the circular of the 12th/24th August, 1898, hardly any one foresaw the importance which this first move was to take, which seemed then in the opinion of the writer Mommsen like “ a printer’s error in the history of the world.”In order to realize the extent of the development to which coming periodical peace conferences are destined it is sufficient to examine the facts of yesterday and the road already traversed.The object of the first Russian project was very limited; its purpose was to call together a certain number of Powers to study the possibility of “ putting a limit ” on armament for the purpose of diminishing the financial burdens of the states, but the exchanges of opinion which preceded the assembly of these “ disarmament conferences ” having shown that the chances of success were very feeble, a second circular by Mouravieff (January 11, 1899) extended the first program by attaching thereto particularly “the possibility of preventing armed conflicts by pacific means ” and the reduction of “ the laws and customs of war ” to a system of rules. These two new subjects changed the character of the assembly, the title of which even was modified. It was called thenceforth the “ Peace Conference.” And, in fact, the conference in obedience to the very force of things soon completed the transformation of accession to principle, subordinated the premature question of disarmament, and applied its efforts towards justifying its title by concentrating all its force on the matter of pacific adjustment of international conflicts.