CHAPTER XLVII 



AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE 

 PEACE CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE: III-1899 



June 4. 



WE have just had an experience which &quot;adds to the 

 gaiety of nations. Some days since, representa 

 tives of what is called &quot;the Young Turkish party &quot; ap 

 peared and asked to be heard. They received, generally, 

 the cold shoulder, mainly because the internal condition 

 of Turkey is not one of the things which the conference 

 was asked to discuss; but also because there is a suspi 

 cion that these &quot;Young Turks &quot; are enabled to live in 

 luxury at Paris by blackmailing the Sultan, and that their 

 zeal for reform becomes fervid whenever their funds 

 run low, and cools whenever a remittance comes from 

 the Bosphorus. But at last some of us decided to give 

 them a hearing, informally; the main object being to get 

 rid of them. At the time appointed, the delegation ap 

 peared in evening dress, and, having been ushered into 

 the room, the spokesman began as follows, very impres 

 sively : 



&quot;Your Excellencies, ve are ze Young Turkeys.&quot; 

 This was too much for most of us, and I think that, dur 

 ing our whole stay at The Hague thus far, we have never 

 undertaken anything more difficult, physically, than to 

 keep our faces straight during the harangue which fol 

 lowed. 



Later, we went with nearly all the other members of 

 the conference to Haarlem, in a special train, by invita 

 tion of the burgomaster and town council, to the &quot;Fete 



288 



