258 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-XX 



Our first session was very interesting; the speech by 

 the honorary president, M. de Beaufort, above referred 

 to, was in every way admirable, and that by the presi 

 dent, M. de Staal, thoroughly good. The latter is the 

 Russian ambassador to London; I had already met him 

 in St. Petersburg, and found him interesting and agree 

 able. He is, no doubt, one of the foremost diplomatists of 

 this epoch; but he is evidently without much knowledge 

 of parliamentary procedure. Congratulatory telegrams 

 were received from the Emperor of Russia and the Queen 

 of the Netherlands and duly answered. 



May 19. 



At eleven in the morning, in one of the large rooms of 

 the hotel, the presidents of delegations met to decide on 

 a plan of organization and work ; and, sitting among them, 

 I first began to have some hopes of a good result. Still, 

 at the outset, the prospect was much beclouded. Though 

 a very considerable number of the foremost statesmen 

 in Europe were present, our deliberations appeared, for 

 a time, a hopeless chaos : the unf amiliarity of our presi 

 dent, Baron de Staal, with parliamentary usages seemed 

 likely to become embarrassing; but sundry statesmen, 

 more experienced in such matters, began drawing toge 

 ther, and were soon elaborating a scheme to be presented 

 to the entire conference. It divided all the subjects named 

 in the Mouravieff circular among three great commit 

 tees, the most important being that on Arbitration. &quot; 

 The choice of representatives on these from our dele 

 gation was made, and an ex-officio membership of all 

 three falls to me. 



In the course of the day I met and talked with various 

 interesting men, among them Count Nigra, formerly Ca- 

 vour s private secretary and ambassador at the court of 

 Napoleon III, where he accomplished so much for Italian 

 unity; Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British ambassador at 

 Washington ; and M. Bernaert, president of the Belgian 

 Chamber. In the evening, at a reception given by the 



