LECTURE BY MR HOLLS

Last night at the Fogg Lecture Room, Hon. Frederick W. Holls of New York lectured on the "Conference at the Hague." Professor Kuno Francke introduced Mr. Holls as a man, who, in obtaining the consent of the German emperor to a permanent board of arbitration, has performed one of the greatest achievements of international diplomacy.

The most important events of 1898 were the Spanish American war, the death of Bismarck, and the calling of the Peace Conference. The first two had an important bearing on the last event. The war showed that America was destined to become an important factor in international affairs, while the death of Bismarck showed that his policy of preventing war, by being prepared for it, was about to come to an end. These two events led to the Peace Conference, called by the Czar.

At first the Conference was looked upon as a means of securing political combinations, but this was changed by the attitude of the American delegation. The most important work was done in the meetings of the committees of which there were three: one on Disarmament, one on the Laws of War, and one on Arbitration. The first committee suggested that the Powers should consider a means of limiting their armaments. The second committee made the laws of war more humane. By far the most important results were those obtained by the committee on arbitration. Before the Hague treaty was signed there was no real code of International law; so that this treaty has been aptly called the "Magna Charta of International Law." By it, arbitration is not compulsory, but every nation is urged to resort to it. Four judges are to be selected from each nation, from whom each of the contending parties will select two and these judges will select a fifth. The nations must agree to abide by the decision of the board of arbitration.

The nations also agreed, that in case they could not arbitrate, they would each select two seconds to act for thirty days, and would do all in their power to make peace. In the meantime the powers were to continue arming. In case war resulted the seconds would still act, and if one side were much weaker than the other, would put a stop to the fight.

The United States agreed to these proposals after making a statement of her position on the Monroe Doctrine, which all the delegates confirmed.