Rolls

senator, he attracted the attention of political
leaders who later frequently made use of his abil-
ity as a campaign speaker. He was a delegate
to the New York constitutional convention in
1894, where as chairman of the committee on
education he procured the adoption of an amend-
ment prohibiting the use of public funds for re-
ligious schools, but he held no other elective
office. i

Holls's most important accomplishments were
in the field of international politics. The legal
firm of which he was a member on several occa-
sions represented the German government; it had
a branch in Germany, and Holls made frequent
trips to Europe, where he made the acquaintance
of leaders of public opinion. When Czar Nich-
olas II proposed, in 1899, an international peace
conference, Holls determined that the United
States should participate and brought to bear
upon the Administration all the resources of his
political influence and of his vigorous personal-
ity. "To him and, indeed, to him almost alone
must be attributed the gradual arousing of Pres-
ident McKinley's interest in the conference, and
the final determination of our government to be
represented" (Review of Reviews, New York,
September 1903, p. 304). A strong delegation
was chosen of which Holls was made secretary.
In this capacity he displayed unexpected re-
sources as an expert in international law and
as a negotiator. His familiarity with several
languages and his wide acquaintance with Euro-
pean personages were important assets to the
American group. At a critical stage in the pro-
ceedings, when German opposition threatened to
prevent the adoption of a scheme of international
arbitration, Holls was sent secretly to Berlin,
where he succeeded in converting opposition
into support. "Mr. Holls," the Paris correspon-
dent of the London Times later wrote, "contrib-
uted so largely and with such fervent zeal to the
creation of the International Court that it may
be fairly said that in no small measure it owed
its existence to him" (The Times, July 27,1903).
He was a member of the committee which draft-
ed the arbitration treaty. His book, The Peace
Conference at the Hague and Its Bearings on
International Law and Policy (1900), although
hurriedly prepared, was pronounced by an au-
thority "fair and unbiased and... in the highest
degree interesting" (T. W. Woolsey, in Yale
Review, February 1901, p. 457). He also con-
tributed an account of the conference to the New
York Independent, Dec. 28, 1899.

In his remaining years Holls was principally
devoted to promoting better relations between
Germany and the United States, and in bringing

Holly

about a better understanding between Americans
of German descent and their fellow citizens. His
unquestioned patriotism did not preclude an in-
terest in European affairs which, far from being
merely sentimental, carried with it the duty of
promoting international goodwill. In the midst
of a busy professional life he found time for the
cultivation of literary, artistic and philosophical
interests. His publications included Franz Lie-
ber: Seine Leben und Seine Werke (1884);
Sancta Sophia and Troitssa (1888), a collection
of travel sketches; a pamphlet advocating com-
pulsory voting (1891); and Correspondence be-
tween Ralph Waldo Emerson and Herman
Grimm (1903). In politics Holls was not blind-
ed by reforming zeal to what was practicable.
His philosophy was realistic. In editorial notes
to a translation of Gustav Rumelin's Politics and
the Moral Law (New York, 1901), while de-
nouncing the ideas of "barrack-trained pseudo-
philosophers especially in Germany who have
attempted to regard war as a positive good," he
sympathized with Rumelin's claim that the Law
of Love has no application in the conduct of a
state, and that "an unqualified obligation on the
part of a state to observe treaties made or rec-
ognized by it cannot be maintained." Holls's
philanthropic activities included participation in
the work of the Legal Aid Society and the Char-
ity Organization Society, and in tenement house
reform. Holding strong opinions which he did
not hesitate to assert, he seemed on chance ac-
quaintance somewhat aggressive, but his friends
knew him as a charming companion and a gra-
cious host He was a lover of music and an
accomplished organist. On Feb. 20, 1889, he
was married to Caroline M. Sayles, daughter of
Frederic C. Sayles of Rhode Island. Death came
to him suddenly in 1903 as the result of an acci-
dent.

[Published material includes four, of the Const.
Conv. of the State of N. Y., 1894 (rev. ed., 1895); J.
B. Scott, The Proc. of the Hague Peace Conferences.
. . . The Conference of iSgg (1920); In Memoriam
Frederick William Holls (priv. pr,, 1904) ; Who's Who
in America, 1901-02; Rev. of Revs. (N. Y.), Sept.
1903; editorial in the Independent (N. Y.), July 30,
1903; editorial in the Outlook, Aug. i, 1903, repr. in
Am. Law Rev., Sept.-Oct 1903; Columbia Univ. Quart.,
Sept, Dec. 1903 ; Albany Law Jour., Aug. 1903; N. Y.
Times, N. Y. Tribune, July 24, 1903. The Holls Papers
are in the custody of the Librarian of Columbia Univer-
sity-J P.W.B.

HOLLY, JAMES THEODORE (Oct. 3,
i829-Mar. 13, 1911), bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, was born in Washington,
D. C., of free negro parents. His father, James,
was one of the laborers employed in the building
of the Capitol. He was also a shoemaker and
was wont to boast that he made the shoes which

156