“Baroness, the Minister of War desires to be presented to you.”
Then again,—“Gracious lady, permit me to introduce myself; my name is Kramer, Secretary in the Ministry of War, and I am eager to tell you that the ideal for which you stand in your novel I have been cherishing in silence for two and thirty years, and now I am heartily rejoiced to see its accomplishment drawing nearer.”
I had a long conversation with Lu Tseng-Tsiang, Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in St. Petersburg.
“For us Chinese especially,” he remarked, “the attainment of the object set by the Conference would be most highly desirable, for we are particularly threatened by the most serious dangers of the European policy of force.”
Herr von Staal talks with me and Herr von Descamps about Johann von Bloch and his book. “C’est un homme remarquable,” he observes. “He wants to prove that peace is no longer a Utopia, but that, in the present state of arms and armies, it is Utopia for civilized nations to wage war. And,” adds the Russian diplomat, “he may be right.”
May 25. A card is brought me, announcing the Earl of Aberdeen. I have been for some time in correspondence with Lady Isabel Aberdeen, who is to preside at the forthcoming Congress of Women in London.
The earl, formerly Governor of Canada,—still a young man of tall, slender figure, with a short, black beard,—brings me greetings from his wife. He tells me that he has been taking an active part in the great campaign of meetings organized by Stead, and has spoken at the gatherings. Charles Richet joins us, also a few German newspaper correspondents, who hitherto have heard and written only things derogatory to the cause of peace; they lay stress especially on the principle that the only guaranty for peace lies in the thorough armament of Germany, since all the other nations are hungry for war. It was a great satisfaction to me that they could hear the Frenchman and the Englishman defend the cause in perfect unanimity and with the most powerful arguments. At the same time, these two men are no “obscure cranks,” but one of them is among the highest dignitaries of the British Empire and the other is one of the most distinguished savants of the University of Paris.
In the afternoon, at the reception at the Russian Embassy, we meet Sir Julian Pauncefote. He is seventy-one years old, but of robust physique; his head and beard are already white, his beard cut in Austrian style with the chin shaven; figure tall and slender; expression of face friendly and noble. Just as services rendered on the battlefield justify promotion to a superior command in a campaign of war, so distinguished deeds in behalf of peace give a suitable title to appointment as a delegate to this Conference. Sir Julian in his diplomatic career has to his credit two great victories in the campaign of peace.
He was ambassador in Washington when Cleveland’s message on the Venezuela question startled the world, and everywhere the tidings flew that war between the United States and England was unavoidable. If a Chamberlain had been in his place at that post, possibly matters might have gone to hostilities. Sir Julian was able to conduct affairs in such a calm and conciliatory tone that the matter was submitted to the court of arbitration which, at this very moment, under the chairmanship of Professor von Martens, is deliberating on it in Paris. Secondly, Sir Julian is the man who, together with the United States Secretary of State Olney, on the eleventh of January, 1899, signed the famous arbitration treaty between America and Great Britain—the first treaty of the sort that was ever drawn up. He is not responsible for the fact that the ratification which had to ensue failed by three votes of the requisite two-thirds majority.
Just as Dr. White had told us a few days before of the plan of the Americans, so now Sir Julian assures us that his delegation, too, will come out with a definite proposal in the third committee (that on arbitration). He cherishes the strongest hopes of a positive result. I bring the conversation to the stillborn Anglo-American treaty. He replies that the matter will certainly be taken up again. “What does not succeed on the first throw, my dear Baroness, succeeds on the second or the third.”