AT THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE: 11-1899 281 



plans, and this Sir Julian promised that he would bring 

 to us, giving us a chance to insert any features from 

 our own plan which, in our judgment, might be important. 

 He seemed much encouraged, as we all are. 



Returning to our rooms, I found Count Miinster. As 

 usual, he was very interesting ; and, after discussing sun 

 dry features of the Russian plan, he told one or two 

 rather good stories. He said that during his stay in St. 

 Petersburg as minister, early in the reign of Alexander 

 II, he had a very serious quarrel with Prince Gortchakoff, 

 the minister of foreign affairs, who afterward became the 

 famous chancellor of the empire. 



Count Miinster had received one day from a professor 

 at Gottingen a letter stating that a young German savant, 

 traveling for scientific purposes in Russia, had been seized 

 and treated as a prisoner, without any proper cause what 

 ever ; that, while he was engaged in his peaceful botaniz 

 ing, a police officer, who was taking a gang of criminals 

 to Siberia, had come along, and one of hie prisoners hav 

 ing escaped, this officer, in order to avoid censure, had 

 seized the young savant, quietly clapped the number of the 

 missing man on his back, put him in with the gang of 

 prisoners, and carried him off along with the rest; so 

 that he was now held as a convict in Siberia. The count 

 put the letter in his pocket, thinking that he might have 

 an opportunity to use it, and a day or two afterward his 

 chance came. Walking on the quay, he met the Emperor 

 (Alexander II), who greeted him heartily, and said, &quot;Let 

 me walk with you. After walking and talking some time, 

 the count told the story of the young German, whereupon 

 the Emperor asked for proofs of its truth. At this Miin 

 ster pulled the letter out of his pocket; and, both having 

 seated themselves on a bench at the side of the walk, the 

 Emperor read it. On finishing it, the Emperor said: 

 1 Such a thing as this can happen only in Russia. That 

 very afternoon he sent a special police squad, post-haste, 

 all the way to Siberia, ordering them to find the young 

 German and bring him back to St. Petersburg. 



