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resignation of the Dupuy ministry came on, and France needed at the head of the cabinet the most capable and upright of her public men, Mr. Bourgeois, when called home and offered the premiership, declined it. He said he believed that he could serve his country better by staying at The Hague. The success of any conference is assured which

has a few such men in

it.

The fifth of the leaders in the conference was Mr. Auguste Beernaert, chairman of the Belgian commission and president of the Belgian House of Representatives. He is a man of commanding presence and equally commanding abilities. He is one of the clearest sighted and farthest sighted of the statesmen of continental Europe, and if he were a citizen of one of the great powers he would easily play a Gladstonian rôle in public affairs. Though coming from a a small country, he figured among the leading spirits in the conference by the simple right of intellectual and moral superiority. It is needless to say that he took an advanced and progressive attitude, though tempered by wise conservatism.

Paris, Mr. Van Karnebeek, Den Beer Poortugael and Mr. Asser of Holland, Sir John C. Ardagh of Great Britain, Baron Bildt of Scandinavia, Captain Mahan and Mr. Holls of the United States commission. There were, of course, other men who aided much in the deliberations, and more would have done so but for the obstacle of

W. H. DE BEAUFORT, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs.

language. Many of the men whose names scarcely ever appeared as taking part in the discussions were of the greatest value in helping to shape in private the opinions and plans of the separate delegations.

Professor de Martens is known throughout the world for his work in international law. He was reputed to be the author of the finely worked-out arbitration scheme brought by Mr. de Staal to the conference. He has a genius for plans and schemes and detail work. He is a man of medium stature, with a quick-glancing, penetrating eye and a quick, vital step. He has a somewhat unusual head, which is about equally developed toward all quarters of the world, marking him out at once as a man of cosmopolitan principles and tendencies. His pictures do him scant justice. He has a great dislike for interviews. Senator Descamps of Belgium is an expert in matters of international justice. He is the author of the wellknown plan for an international tribunal of arbitration adopted by the Interparliamentary Peace Union. He has just published an important book entitled "Le Droit de la Paix et de la Guerre." As chairman of the Ar

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J. C. N. VAN EYS, General Secretary of the Conference.

There was another set of men whose eminence appeared from another point of view, viz., that of practical work in the committees. Foremost among these may be mentioned Professor Martens of Russia, chairman of the section on the Rules of War; Senator Descamps of Belgium, chairman of the Drafting Committee on Arbitration; Professor Renault of

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bitration Drafting
Committee he held the
most important practi-
cal position in the con-
ference. He is still a
young man, of fine
presence, full of vigor
and of faith in human-
ity, and much may be
expected of him in any
future work of the sort
done at The Hague.
Mr. Louis Renault is
a distinguished profess-
or in the law faculty
of Paris. He is tall and
slim, smooth shaven,
with a serious, studi-
ous face, and looks
very much like an
American clergyman of the old school. The
scheme extending the Red Cross convention to
maritime warfare was chiefly drawn by him.
was so well done as to be accepted with great satis-
faction almost as it came from his hand. The
three Dutch delegates mentioned above were all
prominent in their committees, Mr. Asser having
few superiors in the conference.

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MR. A. BEERNAERT
OF BELGIUM.

It

Captain Mahan of the United States commission would command attention anywhere. He is every inch a gentleman, tall, straight, self-poised, and having a face of extraordinary refinement altogether unusual in men of his profession. He made himself strongly felt in committee in presenting the demand of the United States that private property at sea in time of war should be made invio

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lable. In social circles he was always the object of some one's eye. Mr. Holls went to The Hague unknown as a public man. Few Americans outside of New York City had ever heard of him. But he came at once to the front in his committee, and had large influence in general in the conference. The mediation scheme adopted was virtually his as finally framed. In the drafting of the arbitration scheme he had much influence. In bringing the representatives of Germany into concord with the rest he was most influential, partly, no doubt, because of his previous friendship with Dr. Zorn of the German commission. Mr. Holls is a man of robust physique, of vigorous, direct and aggressive mental faculties, and has a good supply of hard common sense. He knows German and French well. He works with the methods of the lawyer, and aroused the distrust of the correspondents by what they considered his quibbling and perfectly useless attempts to cover his tracks from their scent.

As to delegations, those were most influential to which the various men above mentioned belonged. The Italian commission must, however, be included with them. Count Nigra, though not so prominent as the five

leaders described, was a very able and fine-spirited man. He, with his colleagues, worked steadily for the best results. One of the four arbitration plans submitted was brought by him, and as a vice-president of the Arbitration Section he rendered valuable assistance in shaping the plan finally drawn around the British proposals. The German German delegation attracted attention for several reasons. Professor Stengel's pamphlet on "Perpetual Peace," written some time before and without any reference to the conference, had already brought the whole delegation under suspicion. This distrust was increased by the manner in which Count von Münster and his colleagues at first held aloof from active participation in the proceedings. When Dr. Zorn, after the arbitration work was well along, unexpectedly presented the German objections, the committee was for the moment half paralyzed. There was at first a disposition on the part of some to ignore Germany and go on without her. But, on second thought, it was seen that if Germany should stay out of the arrangement its effectiveness would be greatly impaired. So leading members of some of the commissions deliberately set about, in a conciliatory spirit, to try to over

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come Germany's objections. A small deputation even went to Berlin. Germany's response to this kindly appeal was immediate, and afterwards her delegates worked in good spirit with the others, though not in entire agreement. There was no finer exhibition than that brought out by this incident of the splendid spirit of friendliness and coöperation which prevailed throughout the conference from the moment that Mr. de Beaufort and Mr. de Staal gave the noble keynote at the first sitting. This spirit wrought miracles in making easy of accomplishment, in considerable measure, the purpose for which the meeting had been called.

BARONESS VON SUTTNER. MADAME WASZKLEWICZ.

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WILLIAM T. STEAD.

DR. W. EVANS DARBY.

though Professor Stengel and the two technical delegates were also men of much ability.

The Japanese delegation was an interesting one. Baron Hayashi, its chairman, is a man of fine presence and looks much more like a European than the common Japanese. He, with his colleagues, was in strong sympathy with the aims of the conference, especially with the idea of a system of general arbitration. The Chinese first delegate, with his wife and boy, attracted a good deal of attention, but chiefly socially.

The Turkish delegation was conspicuous in two ways, first by its opposition to arbitration, under instructions from the Sultan, and, secondly, because of the presence at The Hague of representatives of those who have suffered so much from

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OPENING OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE, IN THE ORANGE HALL.

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