NETHERLANDS. 



523 



was distributed among different countries as 

 shown in the following table: 



COUNTRIES. 



Imports. 



Germany 



Great Britain 



Dutch India 



Belgium 



United States 



Russia 



British India 



France 



Sweden and Norway. 



Spain 



Roumania 



Brazil 



Peru and Bolivia 



Italy 



Turkey 



Africa 



All other countries. . . 



Total. 



818,200,000 



269,000,000 



260,800,(XX) 



5209,400,000 



279,3i.0,000 



104,100,000 



52,600,000 



21,400,000 



31,400,000 



37,700,000 



25,400,000 



21,300,000 



20,700,000 



6,400,000 



7.800.000 



4.400,000 



70,800,000 



1,795,700,000 



ExporU. 



tion of armaments, communicated by Count Mu- 

 ravieff to the foreign representatives in St. Peters- 

 burg on Aug. 24, 1HDH, in a circular that was 

 eomrnonly called the C/ar's ircnivon, received 

 ostensibly favorable and sympathetic responses 

 from all the governments, arid they promised to 

 delegate representatives to the conference when- 

 ever they received the invitation. Lord Salis- 



787,500,000 

 337.800,000 



68,000,000 

 160,900,000 . 



43,400,000 bury suggested that this should be accompanied 



7,400,000 v,,, ,:. ii__: _r j_i i . . ' 



1,800,000 

 32,100,000 

 10,100,000 



2,900,000 



3,800,000 



by some indication of the special points to "which 

 the attention of the conference was to be directed. 

 On Dec. 30, 1898, Count Muravieff, at the C/ar's 

 behest, addressed a second circular to the powers, 

 in which the restriction and diminution of arma- 

 ments, the extension of arbitration as a mode 

 of settling international differences without war, 

 and the modification of the laws of war so as 



8,800,COO 

 6,100,000 

 4,600,000 



45,000,000 to bring them more nearly into accord with mod- 

 ern ideas of humanity and civilization were indi- 



1,515,800,000 



cated as the general objects of the conference, 

 with a suggestion that the conference be not held 

 Navigation. During 1898 there were 1,201 j n the capital of any great power, where political 



sailing vessels of 954,538 cubic metres, entered interests center that might impede its work. 



at the ports of Holland, 534 of them, of 251,124 Since the issue of the irenicon some of the powers 



ynrnr mor.l*Afl run nor TliTf/li onrl Of\Q r\-f QOT OQ1 i _i j_ _ i * , t 



cubic metres, being Dutch, and 909, of 897,281 

 cubic metres, having cargoes. The number of 

 .sailing vessels cleared was 1,288, of 959,032 cubic 

 metres, of which 626, of 264,051 cubic metres, were 

 Dutch, and 898, of 383,878 cubic metres, carried 

 cargoes. The total number of steamers entered 

 was 9,866, of 23,652,325 cubic metres, of which 



had taken steps to increase their armaments. 

 Notwithstanding these untoward symptoms, the 

 hope was expressed that the general situation 

 would again become favorable to the success of 

 the conference. It was suggested that there 

 should be a preliminary exchange of ideas be- 

 tween the cabinets in order to prepare the way 



_! _1 __ _J- 1 . "jl i-l t 



2,468, of 5,958,563 cubic metres, were Dutch, and for diplomatic discussion, with the object of seek- 

 ing without delay means for putting a stop to 

 the progressive increase of military and naval 

 armaments, which had become more urgent in 

 view of the fresh extension given to those arma- 

 ments, and of preparing the way for the discus- 

 sion of questions relating to the possibility of 



9,405, of 23,017,237 cubic metres, brought cargoes. 

 The number of steamers cleared was 9,769, of 

 23,466,194 cubic metres, of which 2,480, of 5,991,- 

 166 cubic metres, were Dutch, and 6,279, of 12,- 

 214,790 cubic metres, carried cargoes. 



The Dutch mercantile navy in the beginning 



of 1899 consisted of 429 sailing vessels, of 249,918 preventing armed conflicts by the pacific means 



u: ~ at the disposal of international diplomacy. It 

 was well understood that, as a condition of hold- 

 ing the conference, nothing touching the existing 

 political relations of states or the actual order 

 of things as established by treaties, should be 

 admitted as a subject of discussion, nor in gen- 

 eral any question not entering into the pro- 

 gramme adopted by the cabinets. In this second 

 Russian circular the following subjects were ten- 

 tatively suggested as matters for the preliminary 

 consideration of the powers suitable for discus- 

 sion at the conference: 



" An understanding not to increase for a fixed 

 period the present effective of the armed military 

 and naval forces, and at the same time not to 

 increase the budgets pertaining thereto. A pre- 



cubic metres, and 176 steamers, of 605,375 cubic 

 metres. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. There 

 were 2,648 kilometres of railroads in operation 

 on Jan. 1, 1899. The telegraph lines of the Gov- 

 ernment had a total length of 5,907 kilometres, 

 with 20,945 kilometres of wire. The number of 

 dispatches during the year was 5,072,788, of which 

 2.678,420 were internal, 2,279,271 international, 

 and 115,097 service dispatches. The receipts were 

 3,590,552 francs ; the ordinary expenditures 4,835,- 

 333, and extraordinary 1,183,735 francs. 



The post office in 1898 forwarded 76,375,000 in- 

 ternal and 26,622,000 foreign letters, 40,510,000 

 internal and 7,724,000 foreign postal cards, 130,- 

 450,000 internal and 15,671,000 foreign newspa- 



pers and circulars, and 3,702,000 internal letters liminary examination of the means by which a 



with declarations of value and postal money or- 

 ders, remitting 353,838,000 francs, and 617,000 

 foreign ones, remitting 120,211,000 francs. 



Legislation. The States General in the ses- 



reduction might even be effected in the future in 

 the forces and budgets above mentioned. 



"To prohibit the use in the armies and fleets 

 of any new kind of firearms whatever and of new 



sion opened on Sept. 19, 1899, gave long consid- explosives, or any powders more powerful than 

 eration to a measure for the reorganization of those now in use, either for rifles or cannon; to 

 the army. Another bill dealt with labor con- restrict the use in military warfare of the formi- 

 tracts, and one was passed against the excessive dable explosives already existing, and to prohibit 

 consumption of spirituous liquors. Changes were the throwing of projectiles or explosives of any 



kind from balloons or by any similar means; to 

 prohibit the use in naval warfare of submarine 

 torpedo boats or plungers or other similar en- 



made in the import duties, and a different system 



was adopted for the keeping of public accounts. 



The estimates for 1900 amounted to 151,000,000 



guilders, showing a deficit of 6,500,000 guilders, gines of destruction; to give an undertaking not 



to construct vessels with rams in the future; 

 to apply to naval warfare the stipulations of 

 the Geneva convention of 1864 on the basis of 

 the articles added to the convention of 1868; to 

 neutralize ships and boats employed in saving 

 those overboard during or after an engagement; 

 and to raise the declaration concerning the laws 

 and customs of war elaborated in 1874 by the 



of which 3,500,000 guilders represented expendi- 

 ture on public works. The accumulated deficit 

 from previous years was reduced to 15,500,000 

 guilders. There" was an increase of 650,000 guil- 

 ders in army expenditure, but the Minister of 

 Finance saw no necessity for fresh taxation. 



The Peace Conference. The proposal of the 

 Emperor of Russia for a conference on the limita- 



