Highly honored Lady:
You passed through Berlin and we knew nothing about it, when we had
been taking so much pleasure in the anticipation and planning
everything so as to enjoy, if possible, a few more hours of
interchange of thought with you and Herr von Suttner.
For in truth I had my heart very much set on it. I would gladly have
anchored our acquaintance on a ground that might be fruitful for the
community. We must act (operate) on one set of principles. Guerrilla
warfare of individuals, or even of groups, must be superseded by a
systematic action of all under one controlling idea, with each one
conscious of the object to be attained. The heads of all columns must
now appear on the battlefield; those who always do nothing but talk of
religion, Christianity, and the Church, without being honest men or
thinking of their brothers,—those we leave to march in circuit around
the battlefield as they have been doing in the past. Our idea is the
conquest, not merely the combating, of the old view of the world; the
new appears to me under the name “Christianity,” to you under the name
“Humanity.” That ought not to separate us, however, but should make
the one complement the other. Perhaps, too, with the meaning which I
give to the concept “Christianity,” “Humanity brought closer to the
Godhead,” you may be able to accept the word. For the success of our
endeavors, and _that_ is the only point that concerns us, the word
“Christian” is indispensable. Yes, the circles that you already have
will be content with the word “Man”; but millions will not accept it.
We must take Christianity _seriously_—that is the sentence which I
lately cried out to the literary world when I had invited them to meet
in the Chamber of Deputies. In speech and writing, in our own lives,
wherever we come forward, we must verify the Christian consciousness,
must “_live love_” I was understood without doubt—but faith is
lacking; faith in the possibility of a realization of my endeavors.
And that is fearfully sad!
Others again, who share the faith with me, cannot conceive the
realization with retention of the external forms, as I strive for it;
often, therefore, they scarcely believe in the audacity and
intrepidity of my will. The sort of spiritualization of the
established (altar and throne), or “idealization,” is to them
unthinkable, and just as unthinkable to them is it that in my concrete
demands on the future I go beyond them all. None of all these dream of
anything _so_ radical as the changes I want to make, because in many
cases, it must be admitted, they lack the clear conscience: they want
to “destroy”—much at any rate—while I would only build up.
I recently had an intensely serious interview with two teachers. One
of them wanted to compile the views of the most prominent champions of
the development of mankind relative to the schools: the anonymous
author of _Maschinenzeitalter_—I helped him over the anonymity to
begin with (could do so the more freely because on the day before that
splendid booklet _Wilhelm II., Romantiker oder Sozialist_ had come
into my hands, on the cover of which Frau v. S. is named as the author
of that work). It was highly interesting to hear and to see how the
two developed the fact that, and the reasons why, they had believed,
not believed, believed again, and ultimately not believed, this or
that. The other observations of these (still rather young) men were
also very noteworthy, their zeal for the development of mankind
downright magnificent. And of such there are thousands—only the faith
is lacking, and for that we ourselves are to blame, if we do not work
unitedly and so become to those who are striving and willing,
demanding and yearning, a real _safeguard_ for their hopes.
Therefore, Frau von Suttner, place your efforts also under the banner
of a pure religiousness, true and genuine;[38] only so can you _uphold
them before every one_ as justified. Those who care nothing for the
word “Religion” will not ostracize your efforts because of a word; and
those to whom religion is everything will recognize your efforts for
very religion’s sake. But religion in a sense which excludes any
limitation of belief, any Churchism and any Judaism, all sectarianism,
and the like.
I had my heart too much set on saying these additional words, highly
honored lady; I may take it, since the acquaintance we have formed,
that you have a friend’s comprehension of the unreservedness of my
discussion. We are dealing here with something too high for
phrase-making. Above all, I beg you to see in the fact that I have
written you thus at all a proof of pure and genuine esteem—else had I
remained silent. And this honest and convinced esteem I feel (together
with all my family) in no less a degree for your husband, whom I
respectfully salute. My wife and daughter desire me to express to both
of you their warmest greetings and respects. Your visit remains for us
all a valued memory.
Sincerely yours
M. von Egidy
I should not be at a loss to characterize the whole man Egidy in one
word. Just as there are, for example, men of steel and iron, so hard and
keen; men of gold, so good and true; men of wax, so soft and plastic; so
is Egidy, in his transparent luster, a man of crystal.
XXXVI
VARIOUS OPINIONS
Letters from Alphonse Daudet, Paul Heyse, the Bishop of Durham, Ruggero
Bonghi, and Count Kamarofski
After our return from Berlin we gave ourselves up once again to our
literary and propagandist labors. We exerted ourselves to find out what
distinguished contemporaries thought of our purposes, and to utilize
their approval if we got it. So it was that I gained the authoritative
approval of Björnson and Fulda and Edmondo de Amicis and Émile Zola and
many others. But we also encountered opposition and doubt, though only
rarely. My husband, who during our stay in Paris had won Alphonse
Daudet’s sympathies, now wrote to him about the founding of the Peace
Society and about the Congress in Rome, and asked him if he would help
in the cause. Here is the answer:
My dear Colleague,
War is odious and your work is fine. So I am with you against war; but
do you really believe that we can do anything in behalf of peace
except wave our arms and utter sounds? To me war is a thing fated, and
the _apple_ side of my nature—mankind is divided into pears and
apples, idealists and others—the terrible apple side of me, then,
takes from me all hope of success in the campaign which I am ready to
undertake with you.