AT THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE: III- 1899 305 



I have labored so hard to dispel, will be infinitely in 

 creased. It will render more and more difficult the main 

 tenance of proper relations between the two countries. 

 Your sovereign will be looked upon as the enemy of all 

 nations, and will be exposed to every sort of attack and 

 calumny, while the young Emperor of Russia will be 

 come a popular idol throughout the world, since he will 

 represent to the popular mind, and even to the minds of 

 great bodies of thinking and religious people, the effort 

 to prevent war and to solve public questions as much as 

 possible without bloodshed; while the Emperor of Ger 

 many will represent to their minds the desire to solve 

 all great questions by force. Mind, I don t say this is a 

 just view : I only say that it is the view sure to be taken, 

 and that by resisting arbitration here you are playing 

 the game of Russia, as you yourself have stated it that 

 is, you are giving Russia the moral support of the whole 

 world at the expense of the neighboring powers, and 

 above all of Germany. &quot; 



I then took up an argument which, it is understood, 

 has had much influence with the Emperor, namely, that 

 arbitration must be in derogation of his sovereignty, 

 and asked, &quot;How can any such derogation be possible? 

 Your sovereign would submit only such questions to the 

 arbitration tribunal as he thought best; and, more than 

 all that, you have already committed yourselves to the 

 principle. You are aware that Bismarck submitted 

 the question of the Caroline Islands for arbitration to the 

 Pope, and the first Emperor William consented to act 

 as arbiter between the United States and Great Britain 

 in the matter of the American northwestern boundary. 

 How could arbitration affect the true position of the 

 sovereign? Take, for example, matters as they now 

 stand between Germany and the United States. There 

 is a vast mass of petty questions which constantly trou 

 ble the relations between the two countries. These lit 

 tle questions embitter debates, whether in your Reichs 

 tag on one hand, or in our Congress on the other, and 



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