nce Lobanof, who had succeeded de Giers as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, because he feared trouble in the Caucasus. In 1895,
Russia, France, and England, presented a note to the sultan,
suggesting the appointment of a high commissioner, the abolition of
torture, and reforms in taxation. Turkey agreed, but Shakir Pasha, the
high commissioner, failed to restore order and the disorder threatened
to become a revolt. Even in Constantinople a condition of anarchy
prevailed.

The atrocities committed by the Turks aroused indignation everywhere,
when the Armenians seized the Ottoman Bank, but the conspirators were
forced to flee from the building and to seek refuge on an English
yacht. The Turks were furious and killed more than 5,000 Armenians.
Again the powers remonstrated; but at this time it began to dawn upon
the public that the Armenians were a least quite as much to blame as
the Turks, and the interest subsided. Russia had discovered that the
Armenians are undesirable citizens, and sent back some 40,000 of them
who had settled in the Russian Caucasus. Germany, intent upon securing
concessions from Turkey, left the sultan a free hand; meanwhile the
British public was engrossed by the Boer war, and the Armenians,
seeing that they were left to their own devices, subsided.

The civilized world was startled when, on August 24, 1898, Russia (p. 256)
issued a note to the powers, declaring that "military and naval
budgets attack public prosperity at its very source, and divert
national energies from useful aims," and suggesting a conference to
discuss the subject of displacing war by an International Court.

The note received generous applause, especially in the United States
and Great Britain, the two foremost nations devoted to the arts of
peace. The several governments agreed to participate in the proposed
conference. The place selected was The Hague, the capital of the
Netherlands, where the sessions opened on May 18, 1899.

Of all the great powers, the United States was the only one
unreservedly in favor of an arrangement whereby war would be
prevented. Most of the other powers looked upon an International Court
as visionary, and so far as the ostensible purpose is concerned, the
conference was a failure. Still, it bore fruit in defining and adding
strength to international law. Among its most important results is the
clause that "When a conflict seems imminent, one or several powers
shall have the right to offer mediat