Memorandum from the Russian Embassy handed to the President, September 13, 1905.
In view of the termination, with the cordial cooperation of the President of the United States, of the war and of the conclusion of peace between Russia and Japan, His Majesty the Emperor, as initiator of the International Peace Conference of 1899, holds that a favorable moment has now come for the further development and for the systematizing of the labors of that international conference. With this end in view and being assured in advance of the sympathy of President Roosevelt, who has already last year pronounced himself in favor of such a project,a His Majesty desires to approach him with a proposal to the effect that the Government of the United States take part in a new international conference which could be called together at The Hague as soon as favorable replies could be secured from all the other states to whom a similar proposal will be made. As the course of the late war has given rise to a number of questions which are of the greatest importance and closely related to the acts of the first conference, the plenipotentiaries of Russia at the future meeting will lay before the conference a detailed programme which could serve as a starting point for its deliberations.