Rerietc of Reviews, 1111/06. 



At the Parliament of the Nations. 



461 



Kossuth's eloquence was recalled by the glowing 

 sentences of the Count. The ease of his deliven-, 

 his perfect command of language and the accuracy 

 of his grammar and of h's pronuiiciation were mar- 

 vellous. He told me that, with the exception nf his 

 visit to America, he had no practice in speaking in 

 English. He had little time for preparation. On 

 the morning of the Westminster Hall luncheon, 

 which was fixed for 12.15, he began to write his 

 speech at half-past ten, and completed his task amid 

 constant interniptions as he sat at his desk in the 

 Council Room. He was entertained at dinner in the 

 House of Commons by the Eighty Club, which is in- 

 tending to send a bevy of young Liberals to Buda 

 Pesth this autumn. 



In conversation with a Kcssuth'te Hungarian, I 

 was told that the Independent group are bv no 

 means sang^iine as to the future. They distrust the 

 Emperor of Austria, they are not sure that his pre- 

 sent coixiliatory attitude is am thing but a ruse to 

 gain time. ". . . We do not know whether we 

 shall gain anything that we want." " What is it that 

 \ou do want?" I asked, "(i) Our language to be 

 ust-d as the word of command in our armv. (2) Our 

 army to be in our own hands. (3) Hungary to have 

 its own Foreign Office and its own ambassadors. 

 (4) The connection with Austria to be restored or 

 reduced to the purely personal tie which existed 

 before 1848. That it what we want, but what we 

 expect to get is another matter." 



ifR. \V. J. BRT.W. 



After Count Apponyi, Mr. W. J. Brvan was the 

 most prominent personality. He and his wife were 

 present at all the sittings. His name and his fame 

 had preceded him, and everyone was eager to hear 

 hmi speak. His contribution to the Conference 

 was an amendmert to the proposed model arbitra- 

 tion treaty, calling upon the Powers to make com- 

 pulsor)- a preliminary reference to a Commission 

 d'Examen or committee of inquirv in even,- case of 

 di.spute before the sword was drawn. This was 

 neither more nor less than my old formula, " Always 

 arbitrate before you fight,"' which I launched in 

 1896, and which I pressed in vain upon the Hague 

 Congress in 1899. The clau.se advising the ap- 

 pomtment of Commissions d'Examen was the nearest 

 I could get, and this was crippled bv the absurd 

 and even wicked exclusion of cases where honour 

 and vital national interest were concerned. My pro- 

 test against this limitation brought me within mea- 

 surable range of a challenge to a duel from the 

 delegate who mutilated the clause. I had, how- 

 ever, the satisfaction of seeing this limitation set 

 on one side in the only instance in which the clause 

 has been brought into operation. Mr. Bryan's speech, 

 demanding that no war shall take place until there 

 has been a preliminary examination of the facts of 

 the case, only asks that Christian civilised nations 



shall agree to enforce as a part of international law 

 which the ancient Romans imposed upon themselves. 

 He spoke with lucidity and with weight, and his 

 amendment was carried with acclamation. 



His second appearance was more characteristic. 

 Mr. W. J. Bryan never had a more inspiring audi- 

 ence to address than that which confronted him 

 when he followed Count Apponyi to reply on behalf 

 of the Interparliamentry Union. He was equal to 

 the occasion. His voice, his action, his matter were 

 all worthy of the man and of his theme. It was a 

 distinctly American speech, and parts of it, notably 

 his reference to the Welsh revival, must have been 

 almost unintelligible to many of his auditors. But 

 the mobile features of the man and his musical 

 voice were appreciated by all, nor could anyone fail 

 to have been touched by the fer\'our and the passion 

 of his plea for peace. 



Mr. Bryan was e\erywhere spoken of as the next 

 President of the United States. " Only Teddy 

 Roosevelt can beat him," said one of his country- 

 men, " and Teddy has sworn he won't stand." Mr. 

 Brian, who is by way of posing as a great Conser- ■ 

 vative, is judiciously silent upon these .subjects. He 

 was much lionised when in London, Mr. Winston 

 Churchill entertaining him among others at dinner 

 in the House of Commons. His views on India 

 were hard'y acceptable to Mr. Morley. 



MR. BARTHOLDT AXD THE BUDGET OF PEACE. 



Another American who did good service at the 

 Conference w^as Mr. Bartholdt, who is a member 

 of the Council. He aims at the reconstitution of 

 the Interparliamentary Union so as to make it a 

 genuine international Parliament. He recognises 

 that in its present state the Conference possesses no 

 authority, so he would change its constitution, arm 

 it with authority, and supply it with funds: I ha\e 

 to thank Mr. Bartholdt for rendering me yeoman's 

 sen-ice by keeping the question of the Budget for 

 Peace before the Conference. Mr. Bartholdt's idea 

 was that the various Governments should be asked 

 to vote moneys every year which should be dis- 

 bursed by the Interparliamentary group in their own 

 countn-. This entailed, of course, the reconstitu- 

 tion of the group so as to make it the direct repre- 

 sentative of the legislature. Knowing that it was 

 impossible to get our Parliament either to elect a 

 group or to endow it with public funds, I pressed for 

 the adoption of a resolution which M. La Fontaine 

 undertook to move. That resolution affirmed that it 

 was the duty of Executive Governments to undertake 

 the propaganda of peace and international brother- 

 hood, and to create a Peace Budget by appropriating 

 a sum every year which bore a definite proportion to 

 the Army and Navy 'V'ote. 



The moving of this resolution was unexpectedly 

 blocked at the last moment bv the action of Mr. 

 Beernaert, who held that there' was no time for its 



