AT THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE: V-1899 335 



July 10. 



The evil which I dreaded, as regards the formation of 

 public opinion in relation to the work of our conference, 

 is becoming realized. The London Spectator, &quot; just 

 received, contains a most disheartening article, &quot;The 

 Peace Conference a Failure/ with an additional article, 

 more fully developed, to the same effect. Nothing could 

 be more unjust; but, on account of the &quot; Spectator s 

 &quot;moderation,&quot; it will greatly influence public opinion, 

 and doubtless prevent, to some extent, the calling of 

 future conferences needed to develop the good work done 

 in this. Fortunately the correspondent of the &quot;Times&quot; 

 gives a better example, and shows, in his excellent letters, 

 what has been accomplished here. The &quot;New York 

 Herald,&quot; also, is thus far taking the right view, and 

 maintaining it with some earnestness. 



July 17. 



This morning, at ten, to the &quot;House in the Wood&quot; to 

 hear Mr. van Karnebeek s report on disarmament, check 

 ing invention, etc., before the session of committee No. 1. 

 It was strongly attacked, and was left in shreds: the 

 whole subject is evidently too immature and complicated 

 to be dealt with during the present conference. 



In the afternoon came up an especially interesting 

 matter in the session of the arbitration committee, the 

 occasion being a report of the subcommittee. Among 

 the points which most interested us as Americans was a 

 provision for an appeal from the decision of the arbitra 

 tion tribunal on the discovery of new facts. 



De Martens of Eussia spoke with great force against 

 such right of appeal, and others took ground with him. 

 Holls really distinguished himself by a telling speech on 

 the other side which is the American side, that feature 

 having been present in our original instructions ; Messrs. 

 Asser and Karnebeek both spoke for it effectively, and 

 the final decision was virtually in our favor, for Mr. 



