I
The months of June and July of the year 1902 set for the meditation of
men one of those tragic spectacles which, to speak truly, we encounter
every day in the little life that surrounds us, although, like so many
great things, they there pass unperceived. They do not assume their full
significance, nor finally capture our gaze, except when performed on one
of those enormous stages on which are heaped, so to speak, all the
thoughts of a people and on which the latter loves to behold its own
existence made greater and more solemn by royal actors.
As is said in a modern play, "We must add something to ordinary life
before we can understand it." Fate added, in this case, the power and
the pomp of one of the most glorious thrones on earth. Thanks to the
resplendency of that pomp and that power, we saw exactly what a man is
in himself and what he remains when the imposing laws of nature strip
him cruelly naked before their tribunal. We learnt also--the force of
love, pity, religion and science having been suddenly exerted to the
utmost--we learnt also to know better the value of the aid which all
that we have acquired since we inhabited this planet can give in our
distress. We assisted at a struggle, ever confused, but as fierce as
though it were doomed to be supreme, between the different powers,
physical and moral, visible and invisible, that to-day guide mankind.