286 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -XXI 



he had mistaken the signification of our word i publicist ; 

 and we were especially surprised to find his use of the 

 French word i i publiciste &quot; so broad that it would in 

 clude M. Henri Rochefort, Mr. Stead, or any newspaper 

 writer ; and he was quite as surprised to find that with us 

 it would include only such men as Grotius, Wheaton, 

 Calvo, and himself. 



After a long and intricate discussion we separated on 

 very good terms, having made, I think, decided progress 

 toward fusing all three arbitration plans into one which 

 shall embody the merits of all. 



One difficulty we found, of which neither our State De 

 partment nor ourselves had been fully aware. Our origi 

 nal plan required that the judges for the arbitration tri 

 bunal should be nominated by the highest courts of the 

 respective nations ; but De Martens showed us that Russia 

 has no highest court in our sense of the word. Then, too, 

 there is Austria-Hungary, which has two supreme courts 

 of equal authority. This clause, therefore, we arranged 

 to alter, though providing that the original might stand 

 as regards countries possessing supreme courts. 



At lunch we had Baron de Bildt, Swedish minister at 

 Rome and chief of the Swedish delegation at the confer 

 ence, and Baron de Bille, Danish minister at London and 

 chief delegate from Denmark. De Bille declared him 

 self averse to a permanent tribunal to be in constant ses 

 sion, on the ground that, having so little to do, it would be 

 in danger of becoming an object of derision to the press 

 and peoples of the world. 



We were all glad to find, upon the arrival of the Lon 

 don &quot;Times,&quot; that our arbitration project seemed to be 

 receiving extensive approval, and various telegrams from 

 America during the day indicated the same thing. 



It looks more and more as if we are to accomplish some 

 thing. The only thing in sight calculated to throw a cloud 

 over the future is the attitude of the German press 

 against the whole business here ; the most virulent in its 

 attacks being the high Lutheran conservative and re- 



