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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 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.

Count von Münster, head of the German commission, was about the tallest man among the delegates. He is an old, experienced diplomat, now representing Germany at Paris. He was not approachable by outsiders, though of charming address in social circles. His reserve was due in part, possibly, to the attitude of Germany, in part to his age, and in part to the atmosphere of suspicion in which he lives at Paris. Dr. Zorn, of the Königsberg University, was most prominent among the Germans,

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.

Turkish injustice. There was much sympathy among members of the conference for these men and their cause, but the purpose for which the delegates had met precluded the doing of anything direct for them. One could not help feeling the anomaly of such a country as Turkey being represented in a peace conference. The outsiders were not the only ones who felt this anomaly, especially after the first Turkish delegate, Turkhan Pacha, had sent Mr. Ahmed Riza, of the Young Turkey party, a challenge to fight a duel, because of a lecture delivered by the latter in The Hague. Turkey had no real influence in the conference. She was there only by sufferance.

All of the deputations were supposed to have representatives on each of the three sections, and most of them contributed in one way and another toward working out the details of the reports finally made. Several able men, like Mr. Seth Low and Captain Crozier, who were not so much heard from in the general deliberations, had a powerful influence in the work of their own commissions and in a private way. Much of the best work was done in this way. The Austrian delegation, though it had some strong men, did not seem to have much share in the deliberations, possibly because of the distracted state of the dual empire and the overmastering position of Germany in the Triple Alliance. The Duke of Tetuan gave some prominence to the Spanish commission. With the exception of Belgium and Holland, the small powers had little to do with shaping the measures adopted. Switzerland contributed something through Colonel Kunzli and Mr. Odier, both capable men, but would have done much more if Dr. Roth had not left. Mirza Riza Khan of Persia was a charming man, and set a whole meeting into fits of laughter by a speech on the Czar's desire for disarmament.

No account of the personnel would

be complete without prominent mention of the Dutch officials connected with it. The Queen herself was not at The Hague during the conference. She came but once, and that was to give a reception and express to the delegates her profund sympathy with the work which they had been sent to do. Her reception, to which five hundred persons were invited, was the most brilliant "function" which this generation has seen in Holland. She also gave the delegates another reception, toward the end of the conference, at her palace in Amsterdam. Queen Wilhelmina is intensely loved by her people and seems the idealization of all that is true, beautiful and good. Mr. de Beaufort, her Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was made the honorary president of the conference, is a descendant of the Huguenots who fled for liberty to Holland. He is a small, well built man, with dark full beard and hair, deeply streaked with gray. It is rare to find in high position a man so entirely. free from all appearance of self-importance. He greatly impresses one with his quiet strength, dignity and thorough genuineness. I saw him frequently, on the street, at the receptions given by him and Madame Beaufort on Friday evenings, at the great artistic fête given by the Dutch government in honor of the conference, and once in his office, and he seemed invariably the same simple, natural, manly, brotherly man. He has thorough sympathy with the cause of peace, not only on political but also on Christian grounds, as he told me. The most laborious position in the conference was that of the General Secretary. This position was ably filled by Mr. J. C. N. Van Eys, Bart., an able and distinguished young man, who has already served his country as minister at foreign

courts.

The Dutch government not only put at the service of the conference its "most beautiful historic monument," "the House-in-the-Woods,"

but did everything in its power, in a social way, to make the delegates happy. Its hospitality was generous, genuine and becoming. This was supplemented by that of the foreign ministers residing at The Hague, one of the most obliging and best liked of whom is Mr. Newel, from this country. Altogether the peaceful relations of the conference were greatly strengthened by the social elements. A fine dinner knows no nationality, and a grand soirée is a great lubricator of international friction joints.

A considerable number of the leading peace workers from different countries were present, as was to have been expected. They were not officially represented in the conference, except by a few members of the Interparliamentary Peace Union. They came because of their living interest in the cause. They were treated with much consideration, and had no small influence in developing the hopeful and earnest spirit of the occasion. They were prudent and unobtrusive, and accomplished quite as much by their attentive silence as by their speech. Mr. John de Bloch, whose monumental work of six volumes on "The Future War" has received such wide notice, though a comparatively new worker for peace, attracted the greatest attention. He is short, thick set, and has a head fine enough to serve as an artist's model. He is a rich Russian banker, and of high social position. He was in charge of the transportation of the Russian troops, including sick and wounded, during the war of 1877-78, and has "seen war," as he said. I never saw any one more absolutely possessed of his subject. He did not, would not, and I suppose could not talk about anything else. He brought with him great trunks full of sets of his books, which he gave freely to members of the conference and others. He had long interviews with leading delegates. He gave a course of lectures, which were attended by

many of the delegates. He served supper in the middle and at the end of the lectures free to all comers. War under present conditions, as he portrayed its possibilities and illustrated it with lantern projections, seemed to bristle with terrors, death, bankruptcy, widespread and long-continued ruin; and every one who listened was anxious to do something to bring in at once the era of undisturbed and unarmed peace.

The Baroness von Suttner, whose great story, “Lay Down Your Arms," has gone through twenty editions in German and been translated into nearly all the tongues of western Europe, was present, with her husband. She is the foremost woman of continental Europe. She was admitted to the opening session of the conference, the only woman so honored. She moved in and out among the delegates with almost as much attention as if she had been the president of the conference. She had interviews with leading delegates, invited them to lunch, and met them in various ways. All this she did in a quiet, unobtrusive way, but as if by natural right.

The two oldest peace societies in the world, the British and the American, were represented by their secretaries. Dr. Darby of the former had the honor done him of having one hundred copies of his recent book, "International Tribunals," distributed by Mr. de Staal to the delegates. This book contains all the schemes hitherto drawn for the organization of arbitration. It was recognized as of great practical value in the study of the subject of arbitration, and demonstrated that the friends of peace have been not simply sentimental dreamers, but practical workers also. Mr. W. T. Stead, whose recent remarkable work in the peace crusade and travels in Europe and especially to Russia in the interests of the conference are so well known, was present and intensely active among the delegates, to try to

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