THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 250, 19 October 1907, Page 4

THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

People are begiiining to ask with, some reason if the Hague Conference -was convoked to secure peace A or to \psrpetuate war. For whatever may have been the original intention of the Czar ■when he first convened this august gathering, there seems little doubt that the purposes of the great majonty :-of the delegates are by no., means pacific. It ,is impossible yet to' say precisely what decision the Conference has reached on all the intricate diplomatic, military, and naval problems discussed by its numerous committees. It is true that a Court of International Arbitration has been set up; but its powers have been so carefully limited :that it •will not be allowed to decide any question of vital importance. And apart from this, the great majority of the 'resolutions adopted by the Conference seem, to tend in.the direction of making war easy and destructive rather than difficult and relatively''harmless; The '"Standard* has gone so far as to say that all proposals to mitigate the, horrors of warfare were viewed with suspicion and; disapproval at the Hague. And even if this is too strongly put/ we think that Great Britain may justly claim to be the only Power that i has displayed any disinterested desire to sacrifice.any of its existing advantages in the cause of universal peace. ..*■■■

In many respects England appeared to stand practically alone at the Conference; and this may be to a large extent attributed to the fact that her immense naval strength places her in such a commanding position that tne comparatively weaker Powers almost inevitably, feel impelled to array themselves against her on all questions affecting peace and war. But there was more than this in the antagonism that the British representatives at the Hague have bad to face practically throughout the Conference. It is no exaggeration to say that several of the Continental Powers, led by Germany, have, systematically combined during the Conference to defeat England's proposals and .to support any modification of the existing rules'of warr fare that would render ncr command of the sea precarious. A striking instance of this anti-British feeling was the outrageous demand put ; forward for the right to scatter explosive mines on the high sea 3. As the "Times" pointed Out, England, as the foremost Power, would suffer far more than any other country through such an innovation; and it called upon the British delegates at the Hague to resist any such arrangement "in the most unmistakable fashion which diplomatic amenities will permit." As the "Times" eloquently explained, to sanction the' unrestricted use of submarine mines would be "to expose every ship that sails the waters to utter and instantaneous-destruction'," while on the great ocean .steamship routes "women and children would be the. victims of the most ruthless and.yrboiesale methods of destruction- which men have jet devised to slay their enemies'." Here we have a striking proof of the determination of England's rivals to do everything in their power to weaken her control of the seas, even by means that would aggravate unspeakably the fcorrors of warfare. Many other instances of the same kind might be quoted; and we fear that When the history of the second Hague Conference is written in detail, the world will' be reluctantly driven to.the conclusion that the purpose by which the Powers have been mainly inspired has, not been the maintenance of peace or the mitigation i\£ the cruelty of war.