Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



385 



ANOTHER PLEA FOR LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS. 

 By Baron d'Estournei.les de Constant. 



In the first Mardi number of La Revue is published 

 another plea for the Limitation of Armaments by 

 Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, written for the 

 Interparliamentary Union, which was to have 

 assembled at Rome in October last. 



THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCE OF THINGS. 



The writer remain.s firmly convinced that the growth of 

 such unprofluclive charges as those which characterise 

 an armed peace is not a force ; it is an imprudence, 

 and not a precautionary measure. Since igo6 the 

 question of limitation has not advanced a single step, 

 but the oppositii.in and indifference to the proposals 

 only stimulate its advocates and show the gravity of 

 the evil to be remedied. Inertia is not a remedy or 

 an argument, nor is it all-powerful, because behind it 

 there is another irresistible force before which it will 

 ultimately have to give way — the force of things.' If 

 war has become so ruinous that arbitration and con- 

 ciliation are beginning to take its place, why should 

 each State continue to ruin itself by its preparations 

 for so hateful a thing as war ? Such inconsistency 

 has done more tium all the doctrines of the anarchists 

 to discredit Government authority. 



LIMIT.\TION POSSIBLE. 



That a limitation of armaments is possible has been 

 proved by the Cnited States and Great Britain. Vet 

 the Treaty of December 24th. 1814, between the two 

 countries was the crowning point of two wars, including 

 the War of Independence, and its aim was to permit 

 two neighbouring countries, the United States and 

 Canada, to disarm. The reconciliation of Chili and 

 Argentina is another impressive example which 

 deserves to be studied. But history does not devote 

 much space to reconciliation ; its main concern is 

 with battles. In Europe it has been calculated that 

 war e.xpenditure has been almost doubled between 

 1883 and u)oS. Education, commerce, waterways, 

 etc., are all >tar\ed to pay for fleets and useless war- 

 ships of huge tonnage, which no ordinary docks can 

 accommodate While some of the warships are still 

 under conslr inn they are put out of date by the 

 improvement., m.idc in others ordered later. There 

 is no desire to attack the army or the navy of anv 

 country ; wb is desired is to see that the army and 

 the navy be some proportion to the body they arc 

 required to kfcnd. and do not crush it. All such 

 expenditure should be thoroughly discussed instead of 



'iig entered on lightly. 



riTlLITY OF IIIOH TONNAGE. 



While the vessels of 14,500 tonnage of ten years 

 ago have been replaced by some of 25.000 ton- 

 nage, costing, with accessories, a sum whi<l) one 

 hardly dare total, the cost of fuel and ammunition, 

 even in times of peace, is so largely increased that the 

 \'ssels arc navigated as little as possible. The 



exaggerated tonnage has killed navigation. And w hen 

 these marvels of naval genius have been constructed 

 at such an enormous cost, an accident, in times of 

 peace, a mine, or a torpedo, would suffice to reduce 

 to nothing any one of them and the crew composed 

 of men in the prime of life. It is not necessary to be 

 a humanitarian, but only a man, to be revolted by 

 such an error of reasoning. 



now TO INSURE AGAINST WAR. 



The growth of armaments is not only useless but 

 mischievous, leading to social crises and strikes. If 

 it is true that several great States spend nearly two- 

 thirds of their resources in war preparations, it must 

 result that only one-third remains for the upkeep of 

 other institutions. 'While two-thirds of the taxation 

 is unproductive, there is bound to be misery and 

 discontent. Wages cannot be increased in proportion 

 to the growing dearness of living. .Such expenditure 

 cannot continue indefinitely, for strikes and economic 

 crises will become more dangerous for the peace of 

 the world than the dangers intended to be met by 

 armaments. The only real insurance against war is 

 the spread of education, the institution of international 

 justice, conciliation, and the organisation of peace. 

 There was a time when war might appear as a final 

 argmnent, but that was when recourse to public 

 opinion did not exist, and when rulers were in the 

 habit of saying, " L'Etal, c'est mci ! " or " Aprh moi 

 le deluge ! " 



SAFETY IN LIMITATION. 



A Go\crnmcnt which spontaneously limited in a 

 measure which seem.ed rational its war expenditure 

 would be exposed to fewer dangers than one which 

 impoverished a country by exacting excessive sacrifices. 

 In case of attack there might be fewer warships, but 

 there would be more enthusiasm on the part of the 

 people. 'J'hc war in the Transvaal showed what 

 defence a nation without an army could offer, and 

 what the defence of an army truly national might he 

 when educated and trained. Who will deny that the 

 worst difticulties of the Eastern Question might have 

 been soKcd long ago had the Great Powers abandoned 

 their rivalry in armaments, and agreed to see to it that 

 Turkey and the lialkans were provided with the ele- 

 ments of civilisation in the form of railways, roads, 

 and schools ? 



A war of extermination is an impossibility in our 

 day. An army or a fleet may be destroyed, but not 

 a nation. The two Hague Conferences were repre- 

 sented in advance as fiascos, but we know that several 

 important judicial decisions have resulted. A general 

 study of armaments is necessary to hasten a solution 

 of the question of limitation. The only objection to 

 it is novelty ; but ten years ago the idea of a court of 

 arbitration was scouted, and to-da> it is a live force. 

 It will be the same with limitation when it has been 

 studied on its merits, and not |>rcjudged as anti- 

 patriotic and useless. 



