to hold all of the Russians who were present in an Chapter II official capacity.

in the Wood

""

The opening ceremony of the Conference itself was The "House set for two o'clock in the afternoon in the Oranje and the Zaal of the famous House in the Wood (Huis ten meeting room. Bosch), or Summer Palace of the Dutch royal family, situated about one mile from the city in the beautiful park known as the Bosch. This palace, and more especially the meeting room of the Conference, has been made the subject of numerous descriptions.' Uniting the qualities of beauty and simplicity to a striking degree in its exterior, the palace in its interior presents a series of magnificently decorated rooms, the finest of which is the Oranje Zaal, or ballroom, which was finished in 1647, in honor of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange by Jordaens and other pupils of Rubens, by the order of his widow.

For the purposes of the Conference the room had Arrangement been arranged in the form of a parliamentary hall of the room. -four rows of concentric semi-circular tables, covered with green baize, affording just one hundred seats, from all of which the chair could be readily seen and addressed. The presiding officer's chair itself had been placed in the bay window, flanked on either side by seats for the Russian delegation, or, as the case might be, for the members of a committee making a report; and directly in front and between the chair and the body of the hall there was ample room for

1 The best general description of the House in the Wood is perhaps to be found in an article by Mrs. W. E. H. Lecky, in the Nineteenth Century for May, 1890.

Chapter II

Exclusion of

all outsiders.

The members of the Conference.

66

the secretaries and attachés. The seats were allotted to the respective States in alphabetical order, in the French language, and the United States of America having been classified as " Amérique," under "A" shared with Germany (Allemagne) the seats of honor along the centre of the room and directly in front of the chair."

There was no room either for spectators or for journalists, except only a narrow gallery in the cupola, to which a very few invited guests were admitted on the opening and closing days of the Conference. At all other times, outsiders of every kind were strictly excluded, and visitors were not permitted even to inspect the palace during the sessions of the Conference or of any of its committees. No guaranty was thus lacking for complete privacy and freedom of deliberations.

The following is a complete list of the members of the Conference with the committee assignments of each, arranged alphabetically according to the names of countries in the French language.

GERMANY (Allemagne)

Count George Herbert Münster Ladenburg, since created Prince Münster Derneburg; Ambassador for Hanover at St. Petersburg, 1856-1864; Member of the Prussian House of Lords, 1867, and of the North German and German Reichstag, 1867-1873;

1 This arrangement gave rise to an amusing incident on the opening day. The veteran Count Munster (now Prince Münster Derneburg) jokingly charged the American delegation with having origi

Ambassador of Germany to the Court of St. James, Chapter II 1873-1885; Ambassador of Germany to France since 1885. Count Münster was the senior member of the Conference, and Honorary President of the First Committee.

Baron Carl von Stengel; Imperial Landgerichtsrath in Mulhausen, 1871-1879; at Strassburg, 1879-1881; Professor at University of Breslau, 1881-1890; at University of Würzburg, 1890-1895; at University of Munich since 1895. Vice-President of the Second Committee, and a member of the First Committee and of the Committee on the Final Act.

Professor Philip Zorn, Privy Councillor; Professor of Law at Munich, 1875, and at Berne, 18751878; Professor at University of Königsberg since 1878. Vice-President of the Third Committee, and member of the Second Committee, as well as of the Comité d'Examen.

Colonel, now Major-General, Gross von Schwarzhoff, commander of the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, No. 93; Military Expert, Member of the First and Second Committees.

Captain Siegel, Naval Attaché at the Embassy of the German Empire at Paris; Naval Expert. Vice-President of the First Committee, and a member of the Second and Third Committees.

nated the alphabetical arrangement as part of the new "imperialistic" policy of the United States. On being assured that the American representatives were as innocent of such complicity as a new born babe, the Count smilingly shook his head, and remarked, "American innocence is generally your excuse, and has always been a drawing card in diplomacy."

Chapter II UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (États Unis d'Amérique)

The members

of the Conference.

Andrew Dickson White, LL.D., L.H.D.; Secretary of Legation at St. Petersburg, 1855-1856; State Senator of New York, 1863-1867; President of Cornell University, 1867-1885; Special Commissioner of the United States to the Republic of Santo Domingo, 1871; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Germany, 1879-1881; to Russia 1892-1894; Ambassador to Germany since 1897. President of the American Commission, Honorary President of the First Committee, and member of the Second and Third Committees.

Seth Low, LL.D.; Mayor of Brooklyn, 18811885; President of Columbia University, New York, since 1890. Member of the Third Committee, and of the Committee on the Final Act.

Stanford Newel; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Netherlands, since 1897. Member of the Second Committee.

Captain Alfred T. Mahan, LL.D., D.C.L., United States Navy, appointed to the Navy, 1856; Lieutenant, 1861; Lieutenant-Commander, 1865; President of the Naval War College at Newport, R. I., 1886– 1893; Member of the Naval Advisory Strategy Board, 1898. Member of the First and Second

Committees.

Captain William Crozier, United States Army; Captain in the Ordnance Department since 1890; inventor of a disappearing gun carriage, wire wrapped

rifle, and an improved ten-inch gun; Major and Chapter II Inspector General of United States Volunteers, 1898. Member of the Second and Third Committees.

Frederick William Holls, D.C.L., Counselor at Law; Member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, 1894. Secretary and Counsel of the American Commission, and a member of the Third Committee, as well as of the Comité d'Examen.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY (Autriche-Hongrie)

Count Rudolph von Welsersheimb; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Belgium in 1888; Privy Councillor and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, since 1895; Ambassador Extraordinary to The Hague for the purposes of this Conference. Honorary President of the Second Committee and a member of the Third Committee.

Alexander Okoliscanyi von Okolisena; Privy Councillor and Chamberlain of His Majesty the Austrian Emperor; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Stuttgart, 1889, and to the Netherlands in 1894. Member of the Third Committee.

Gaetan Mérey de Kapos-Mére; Councillor of State and Chief of Cabinet in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Vice-President of the Third Committee of the Conference and a member of the Second Committee, and of the Committee on the Final Act.

Professor Heinrich Lammasch, Professor of Law at the University of Vienna. Member of the Second