304 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-XXII 



gladly aid in making the world fully aware of it that 

 Germany, through you, has constantly urged the great 

 est publicity of our proceedings, while certain other 

 powers have insisted on secrecy until secrecy has utterly 

 broken down, and then have made the least concession 

 possible. In this way you will come out of the confer 

 ence triumphant, and the German Emperor will be looked 

 upon as, after all, the arbiter of Europe. Everybody 

 knows that France has never wished arbitration, and 

 that Eussian statesmen are really, at heart, none too ar 

 dent for it. Come forward, then, and make the matter 

 thoroughly your own; and, having done this, maintain 

 your present attitude strongly as regards the two other 

 matters above named, that is, the immunity from seiz 

 ure of private property on the high seas, and the throw 

 ing open of our proceedings, and the honors of the 

 whole conference is yours. &quot; 



He seemed impressed by all this, and took a different 

 tone from any which has been noted in him since we 

 came together. I then asked him if he had heard Baron 

 d Estournelles s story. He said that he had not. I told 

 it to him, as given in my diary yesterday; and said, 

 &quot;You see there what the failure to obtain a result which 

 is really so much longed for by all the peoples of the 

 world will do to promote the designs of the socialistic 

 forces which are so powerful in all parts of the Continent, 

 and nowhere more so than in Germany and the nations 

 allied with her.&quot; 



This, too, seemed to impress him. I then went on to 

 say, &quot;This is not all. By opposing arbitration, you not 

 only put a club into the hands of socialists, anarchists, 

 and all the other anti-social forces, but you alienate the 

 substantial middle class and the great body of religious 

 people in all nations. You have no conception of the 

 depth of feeling on this subject which exists in my own 

 country, to say nothing of others ; and if Germany stands 

 in the way, the distrust of her which Americans have 

 felt, and which as minister and ambassador at Berlin 



