274 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-XXI 



May 28. 



Drove with Dr. Holls to Delft, five miles, and attended 

 service at the &quot;New Church. &quot; The building was noble, 

 but the service seemed very crude and dismal, nearly the 

 whole of it consisting of two long sermons separated by 

 hymns, and all unspeakably dreary. 



Afterward we saw the tombs of William of Orange and 

 Grotius, and they stirred many thoughts. I visited them 

 first nearly forty years ago, with three persons very dear 

 to me, all of whom are now passed away. More than ever 

 it is clear to me that of all books ever written not claim 

 ing divine inspiration the great work of Grotius on 

 &quot;War and Peace 7 has been of most benefit to mankind. 

 Our work here, at the end of the nineteenth century, is 

 the direct result of his, at the beginning of the seven 

 teenth. 



Afterward to the Prinzenhof, visiting the place where 

 William of Orange was assassinated. Was glad to see 

 the new statue of Grotius in front of the church where 

 he lies buried. 



May 29. 



In the morning President Low and myself walked, and 

 talked over various proposals for arbitration, especially 

 our own. It looks much as if we can amalgamate the Rus 

 sian, British, and original American plans into a good 

 arrangement for a tribunal. We also discussed a scheme 

 for the selection, by disagreeing nations, of &quot;seconding 

 powers, who, before the beginning of hostilities, or even 

 after, shall attempt to settle difficulties between powers, 

 or, if unsuccessful, to stop them as soon after war begins 

 as the honor of the nations concerned may allow. The 

 Germans greatly favor this plan, since it resembles their 

 tribunal of honor (Ehrengericht) ; it was originally sug 

 gested to us by our secretary, Dr. Holls. 



In the evening, at six, the American delegation met. 

 We had before us type-written copies of our whole ar 

 bitration project as elaborated in our previous sessions, 



