The proposal of the Czar for a general reduction of the vast military
establishments that weigh so heavily upon many peoples in time of peace
was communicated to this Government with an earnest invitation to be
represented in the conference which it is contemplated to assemble with
a view to discussing the means of accomplishing so desirable a result.
His Majesty was at once informed of the cordial sympathy of this
Government with the principle involved in his exalted proposal and of
the readiness of the United States to take part in the conference.
The active military force of the United States, as measured by our
population, territorial area, and taxable wealth, is, and under any
conceivable prospective conditions must continue to be, in time of peace
so conspicuously less than that of the armed powers to whom the Czar's
appeal is especially addressed that the question can have for us no
practical importance save as marking an auspicious step toward the
betterment of the condition of the modern peoples and the cultivation
of peace and good will among them; but in this view it behooves us as
a nation to lend countenance and aid to the beneficent project.

The claims of owners of American sealing vessels for seizure by Russian
cruisers in Bering Sea are being pressed to a settlement. The equities
of the cases justify the expectation that a measure of reparation will
eventually be accorded in harmony with precedent and in the light of the
proven facts.

The recommendation made in my special message of April 27 last is
renewed, that appropriation be made to reimburse the master and owners
of the Russian bark _Hans_ for wrongful arrest of the master and
detention of the vessel in February, 1896, by officers of the United
States district court for the southern district of Mississippi. The
papers accompanying my said message make out a most meritorious claim