The Secretary of State to the Russian Ambassador.

The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of his excellency the ambassador of Russia, dated the 4th instant, in which, by direction of the Imperial Government, the ambassador communicates the remarks and reservations conveyed to that Government by the several powers invited to the Second Peace Conference, and declares, on the part of the Imperial Russian Government, that it maintains its programme of the month of April, 1906, as the basis for the deliberations of the conference, and that, if the conference should broach a discussion that should appear to the Imperial Government unlikely to end in any practical issue, it reserves to itself, in its turn, the right to take no part in such discussion.

Similar declarations are communicated in behalf of the Imperial German and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Governments, and the ambassador further states that the Imperial Russian Government has addressed a request to the Royal Government of the Netherlands, asking that it may be pleased to call the conference for the first days of June next.

The Secretary of State takes due note of his excellency’s important communication.

The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew, etc.

Elihu Root.