his nomination, in the month of May, of these Russian members of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration, has certainly tried to prove once more
what deep sympathy he feels for this creation of the Peace Conference,
and his utmost desire to give this court the greatest possible _éclat_
and the most serious importance. Such certainly is the opinion that at
present obtains in high governmental spheres.
You would infinitely oblige me if you would send me three copies of
your article on the Permanent Court and its members. Do you suppose
you could possibly publish the article in the _Neue Freie Presse_,
which is read in Russia? Madame de Martens wishes to be remembered,
and I beg you to accept the assurance of my highest regard.
Martens
I received other letters from the newly appointed delegates, thanking me
for my congratulations; but I will cite only the one from Count
Schönborn:
Vienna, January 11, 1901
Dear Baroness:
Will you accept my heartiest and humblest thanks for the thoroughly
kind letter of the eighth which reached me yesterday, and which I
should have instantly answered had not an unusually long session of
the Court of Administration occupied my time. Please accept at the
same time my warmest thanks for your kindness in sending me the highly
interesting publication, as well as your congratulations.
I am so deeply impressed by the importance of the duty imposed upon
the Hague Court of Arbitration that I was at first dubious about
accepting the nomination, and not until after some explanations were
made which pacified my scruples did I dare accept the complimentary
mandate.
We, that is to say the Arbitration Tribunal, shall not have much to
attend to at first, probably, but I confidently hope that a good vital
germ has been planted, and that later, if the institution proves its
value in several apparently unimportant cases, the number of its
adherents and the number and importance of the contentions submitted
to it will increase.
With the expression of especial respect, I am
Yours sincerely
Friedrich Schönborn
I sent my congratulations, together with a copy of my Hague diary, to
two German gentlemen nominated to the same dignity. One of them did not
reply at all; the other sent me three marks!
The beginning of the year 1901 still brought no cessation of the Boer
War. Such a mighty power opposed to such a small one, and yet the
decision was so long delayed!
Many of Bloch’s predictions regarding modern warfare were justified,—for
instance, the advantage held by those who were on the defensive, the
long, indecisive continuation of battles, the enormously increased
sacrifices of money and men, and many other things. Bloch was at that
time in London, where he was delivering lectures at the Navy Club before
an audience of admirals and generals. Moreover, he was busily engaged
with the preliminary arrangements for the founding of his War and Peace
Museum at Lucerne.
Mindful of the promise which I had obtained from D’Estournelles, I wrote
urging him to come to Vienna and give a lecture on the Hague Conference.
He consented without hesitation. Count Apponyi, as soon as he heard of
his coming, invited him to take advantage of this opportunity to spend a
few days with him at his castle of Eberhard, and also to deliver a
lecture in Budapest. This invitation D’Estournelles likewise accepted.
We put ourselves out to secure the attendance of a select and
influential audience for the lecture in Vienna. I addressed myself to
the then French ambassador, Marquis de Reverseaux, who gave me every
assistance in his power in behalf of his fellow-countryman, whom he so
highly prized. He not only saw to it that the members of his embassy
should be present at the lecture, but he also undertook to extend
invitations to the whole diplomatic corps. We for our part sent
invitations to the ministers, to the principal officials at court, and
to the leading politicians. We made no attempt to arrange for a
particularly democratic assemblage, for in the first place the common
people would not understand French, and in the second place we were
particularly desirous that the political, court, and aristocratic
circles, which are accustomed to look so superciliously cold upon the
peace cause and the Hague Conference, should for once have a chance to
hear an explanation of it from the lips of a man who was himself a
diplomat and a politician and an aristocrat, and who had taken a
prominent part in the work of the Hague Conference. I had also taken
pains to get the directors of the Theresianum and the Oriental Academy
to send us a number of their students, for the teaching offered would be
particularly useful to just such young men, destined for political and
diplomatic careers.
The affair went off brilliantly. D’Estournelles spoke splendidly, and
the very numerous public, composed of just the elements that we desired,
listened with great attention and approbation. It was a _succès_.
That evening—the lecture having occupied the time from four till six—we
gave a small _souper intime_ in honor of our foreign guest. Among those
present were D’Estournelles’s two Austrian colleagues of the Hague
Court, Count Schönborn and Lammasch; also Barons Ernst von Plener and
Peter Pirquet of the Austrian Interparliamentary Group.
This year we did not attend the Peace Congress, which was held at
Glasgow. The following letter I received from the American delegate to
the Hague Conference, Dr. Holls, who, as it appeared, had undertaken to
make a journey through Europe on a peace mission. I had extended him an
invitation to visit me in Vienna.
Claridge’s Hotel, Brook Street, W.
July 26, 1901
My dear Madam:
Your friendly letter reached me here after many wanderings. I regret
very sincerely not having seen you in Vienna, but my time there was
exceedingly brief and almost wholly occupied with business.
As you have seen from the published interview, my journey to Russia
was very satisfactory. But I do not believe that it would be advisable
to publish anything further about it at present.
The miscomprehension of our work disturbs me very little; it must make
its way by reason of its services. I should have been glad to discuss
with you, more extensively than is possible by letter, the present
phases of the question; but this year it is impossible. The thing to
do now is to wait patiently. The plant is growing, and there is no
object in disturbing its growth by too frequent investigation of how
far it has already progressed. For that reason I regret even the
holding of a Peace Congress this year.
General resolutions of condemnation are of very little value. The most
we can do now is to make excrescences of militarism—for example, silly
dueling—ridiculous.
With hearty respect, I remain
Yours sincerely
Dr. W. Holls
On the twelfth of June we celebrated our silver wedding; not by a great
festival at home, with congratulations, deputations, and toasts, but, as
usual, by an excursion into solitude. Sacred day! The retrospect upon
five-and-twenty years of undisturbed comradeship! We had left
Harmannsdorf two days before—no one knew where we had gone—like a pair
of fugitive lovers. The festal day we spent in a romantic forest region,
hiding ourselves in the deepest depths of the woods and calling up
reminiscence after reminiscence! A rich life lay behind us. And what
might come in the future? How much farther should we wander together on
the path that leads from the silver to the golden wedding? How fortunate
that fate gives no answer to such questions!
I had written again to the sage of Yasnaya Polyana, and in reply
received the following very characteristic lines:
August 28, 1901
Dear Baroness:
I thank you for your good letter. It was very pleasant for me to know
that you retain a kindly memory of me.
At the risk of being tiresome to you by repeating what I have many
times said in my writings, and what I believe I have written to you, I
cannot refrain from saying once again that the longer I live and the
more I consider the question of war the more I am convinced that the
sole solution of the question is for the citizens to refuse to be
soldiers. As long as every man at the age of twenty or twenty-one
abjures his religion—not only Christianity but the commandments of
Moses (“Thou shalt not kill”)—and promises to kill all those whom his
superior orders him to kill, even his brothers and parents, so long
war will not cease; and it will grow more and more cruel, as it is
already becoming in our day.
For the disappearance of war there is no need of conferences or peace
societies; one thing only is needed, namely, the reëstablishment of
the dignity of man. If the smallest part of the energy spent nowadays
for articles and fine speeches in the conferences and peace societies
were employed in the schools and among the people for destroying false
religion and propagating the true, wars would soon become impossible.
Your excellent book has had a great effect in spreading abroad a
realization of the horrors of war. It would be well now to show people
that they themselves are the ones that bring about all the evils of
war by obeying men rather than God. I take the liberty of suggesting
that you devote yourself to this task, which is the only means of
attaining the end you have in view.
Begging you to excuse me for the liberty which I have taken, I remain
Yours with highest regard
Leo Tolstoi
This year, for the first time, the Nobel prizes were distributed. The
date selected was the tenth of December, the anniversary of the
testator’s death. The peace prize was divided and assigned in equal
shares to Frédéric Passy and Henri Dunant. Highly as I regarded and
still regard Dunant, persuaded as I was and am of his friendly attitude
toward peace, nevertheless his services and his fame rested on a quite
different field from that which Nobel had in mind. The granting of the
prize to Dunant was once more a concession to that spirit which managed
to force its way even into the Hague Conference, and which supports the
dogma that the endeavors against war should be discreetly limited to its
alleviation.
That Frédéric Passy, the oldest, the most deserving, and the most highly
regarded of all pacifists, received the prize was a great satisfaction
to all of us—only the whole amount should have gone to him.
I received the following letter from Dunant:
Heiden, December 10, 1901
My dear Madam:
I am impelled to offer you my homage on this day, as I have just been
informed by an official telegram from Christiania that the Nobel peace
prize has been granted to me in conjunction with my honored colleague
of many years’ standing, Frédéric Passy.
This prize, gracious lady, is your work; for through your
instrumentality Herr Nobel became devoted to the peace movement, and
at your suggestion he became its promoter.
For more than fifty years I have been a pronounced adherent of the
cause of international peace, and a fighter under the white banner.
The work of international brotherhood has been my aim ever since my
earliest youth. I say this and repeat it to-day more emphatically than
ever in my character as founder of the universal institution of the
Red Cross and as promoter of the Geneva Convention of August 22, 1864.
When, in the year 1861, I wrote my _Souvenir de Solferino_, my
principal aim—be assured of this—was general pacification; I desired
as far as I could to awaken horror of war in the readers of my book.
This has been recognized, and I will merely adduce one example. The
famous Professor Marc Girardin, of the French Academy, said in an
article devoted to my book, “I could wish that this book should be
widely read, especially by those who love and glorify war.”
And Victor Hugo wrote me: “You furnish mankind with weapons, and you
help peace by making war hateful.... I applaud your noble desire.”
I might say much on this theme, and bring forward a quantity of
citations in like spirit from authorities of all kinds and all
countries; but I must refrain, and beg you, Baroness, to accept the
assurance of my most sincere gratitude and my deepest respect.
Henri Dunant
The yearly meeting of my Union for 1901 took the form of a sort of
jubilee; ten years had passed since its establishment.
From among the many letters of greeting that reached me on this occasion
I will include a few in these reminiscences, for the reason that they
depict the status of the movement at that time, and also furnish a
résumé of its philosophy.
Paris, December 27, 1901
Gracious Lady and dear Associate:
The friend has usually written you; to-day the president of the French
Society for Arbitration among the Nations and—since he cannot hide the
title—the first recipient of the Nobel prize sends these lines to you,
though of course the friend is not eliminated. If I am correctly
informed, you are holding the tenth general assembly of the society of
which you are the head. And this is an event which we cannot permit to
pass without notice. It means something for a Union to have lived ten
years, especially for the reason that at its inception many, even
among the well disposed, might reasonably have doubts of its
continuance. You certainly had to meet the prejudice, if not the
opposition, of some; the skepticism and the scruples of others; not to
mention the ridicule of those who could not understand that a woman
might take part in the political questions which, according to their
ideas, are reserved exclusively for masculine intelligence and
activity.
But, supported certainly by true and genuine sympathies, you have put
up a good fight, and you have attained your end.
Courage, then, and patience! And may it be permitted me in my
character as dean, and as a veteran of the peace militia, to send to
you, and through you to transmit to your society, the thanks, the
congratulations, and the benediction of all those who combine regard
for human life, love for justice, and faith in the future with horror
of force and bloodshed.
Frédéric Passy
Budapest, December 21, 1901
Noble and honored Baroness:
The agreeable fact that the Austrian Society of the Friends of Peace,
called into existence by your Excellency, and still conducted through
the indefatigable energy of your Excellency, can now look back over a
ten years’ activity, constrains me to congratulate your Excellency
most warmly on this circumstance.
Though there may be many who will be unable to appreciate the
endeavors of the society, I can, as far as I am concerned, assure your
Excellency that I can estimate at their true value all great and noble
ideas, as well as those who labor for the accomplishment of such
ideas, and so I follow these endeavors with the warmest interest.
With the highest esteem, I am yours respectfully
Szell, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary
[Telegram.] On the decennial anniversary of your Union I send you my
congratulations, and beg to be enrolled as a life member of the
Austrian Peace Society, at the same time calling attention to the
ideas expressed in my letter of the tenth of December.
Henri Dunant
Vienna, December 30, 1901
... The friends of peace in various countries have done good service,
for it is certain that they have materially contributed to the
formation of the Court of Arbitration, and it cannot be doubted that
their moral support is necessary to the embryonic undertaking.
I am taking the liberty, my dear Baroness, of most respectfully
offering you, who have played so prominent a part in the whole
movement, my best wishes for your honored person, as well as for the
success of the great work.
With especial respect, yours faithfully
Schönborn, First President of the Imperial Court of Administration
Paris, December 30, 1901
Dear Madam and Friend:
You are about celebrating the decennial anniversary of the society
which you called into life, and which, I hope, as a recompense
therefor, will save many human lives. Be undisturbed while those who
admire contentions and spectacles make sport of your endeavors; these
people are looking out for their own interests, for they feel that
they are threatened with ruin; in fighting against peace they are
fighting for their own existence. What would become of the so-called
patriotic, imperialistic, and nationalistic press in all countries if
wars between nations should cease, and if the daily instigations
should remain ineffectual? People would then cease buying and reading
these papers. And what would become of the great sensation mongers if
the continual threat of war should no longer be a burden on each
country, and if the peaceful idea of the Court of Arbitration should
make its way into the usages of mankind?
The principle of international arbitration has a great portion of the
press universal against it, exactly as the same principle in its
application to labor and employers of labor has the opposition of
certain politicians and agitators.
Nevertheless, this last system has lately made great strides forward,
and it seems like the only righteous and reasonable solution of labor
difficulties.
It will be so with the international courts of arbitration as soon as
the Hague Tribunal shall have begun to exert its activities. That is
the real reason why it has met with such obstinate opposition; for if
its doors are once opened, it will be difficult to close them again.
So let us, then, beat these doors down. Let us, in common with all
true men of all lands, through our united protests compel the
governments to renounce their inactivity and their unfriendliness. Let
us compel them to comprehend that their duty is in harmony with their
interests if they would avoid the social revolution.
After they have had the magnanimous unwisdom to call into existence
the Hague Arbitration Tribunal, with the approval of the whole world,
they cannot bury it alive now without bringing themselves into
condemnation and betraying the fact that they are afraid of justice
and are adherents of a system of violence against which public opinion
long ago revolted.
In a word, let us demand the opening of the Hague Court of
Arbitration! There is our salvation, there is to be found the means
for hastening the accomplishment of your hopes and mine.
Most heartily and respectfully yours
D’Estournelles de Constant
Vienna, December 26, 1901
My dear Baroness:
On the occasion of the decennial celebration of the Society of
Austrian Friends of Peace I am sending to the Union, and above all to
you,—its spiritual head, its soul,—my best congratulations. You can
look back with pride and satisfaction over this long period of
unceasing activity, which, supported by intrepid faith in your noble
cause, rejoices in such splendid success and through the results of
the Hague Conference must convert the most obstinate doubter to a
belief in its necessity and usefulness.
Accept, Baroness, the assurance of my especial consideration.
Chlumecky, Former Minister
Graz, December 31, 1901
The thought of universal peace can no longer be put out of the world;
this is the first result of the League of the Friends of Peace!
We have the same courage—so sorely needed—for peace as the soldier has
for war! Salutations, friends, for the New Year!
Peter Rosegger
Aulestad, December 18, 1901
The future of the peace cause always comes to me in the guise of a
sunrise. For us Northlanders the sunrise can mean so much more than
for the people to the south of us; we expect it only once in a while,
and greet it as a miracle. The darkness was so oppressively long, the
silence so mysterious, the first glow over the rocky peaks so
deceptive! It lasts and lasts and ever grows—but still no sun! Even
when the sky is already streaming full of hope—yet still no sun! And
it is cold—really colder than before, for fancy has become impatient.
Then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, even while we are gazing,
comes the so-long-expected Majesty! So powerful, so compellingly
powerful that the eyes cannot endure it. We turn and look at the
landscape, which, without our noticing it, has been so long ensouled;
at the air which, without our perceiving it, has been so long flooded
with light. Everything, everything, even down into the depths, and
high up on the summits, is bathed in the sun, clear, complete, filled
with warmth, throbbing with music....
So I think it is happening to us. In our yearning we do not take note
of what is being accomplished—how near already the great sun of
universal peace is. Something is coming, and it seems like a miracle.
But it is no miracle; in our impatience we do not see how everything
was all in readiness for it.
My greeting to the assembly!
Björnstjerne Björnson
LXIII
THE LAST YEAR
Premonitions · Bloch’s death · The Transvaal · Stanhope on the situation
· My husband’s sudden illness · Three letters · Congress in Monaco · The
Oceanographic Museum · Prince Albert I · The corrective · Pierre
Quillard on the Armenian horrors · The crag castle · Venetian night ·
The Duke of Urach · From Prince Albert’s after-dinner speech · A
dedication to the German Emperor · Return home · An act of
D’Estournelles’s · The first controversy before the Hague Tribunal ·
Opening of the Bloch Museum at Lucerne · Anti-dueling League · A letter
from Prince Alfonso de Borbon · Offer for a lecture tour in the United
States · Hodgson Pratt on America · Visits of Emanuel Nobel and Princess
Tamara of Georgia at Harmannsdorf · Sojourn in Ellischau · A surprise ·
Adjournment of the Interparliamentary Conference at Vienna · The end ·
From the will · Provisional conclusion · What is yet to follow
The last year of him who was my all.
On New Year’s Day, 1902, all sorts of trifling annoyances happened to
us.
“You will see,” said My Own, more in jest than in earnest, for he was
not superstitious, “this is going to be a bad year.”
During the first week indeed came bad news, a dispatch from
Warsaw,—“Johann von Bloch dead of heart disease.” Once more a mighty
fellow-combatant gone from us!
The war in the Transvaal still kept on. It was now in its third year. At
first the English believed that it was merely a little military
promenade; and now these unending sacrifices and losses. I wrote to
Philip Stanhope asking him if he could give me some information
regarding the situation, and perhaps raise his voice against the
continuance of the strife. He wrote back:
3 Carlton Gardens, S.W.
January 25, 1902
Dear Baroness de Suttner:
I am overwhelmed with confusion. I have been since the beginning of
December in Italy, and have only recently returned for a short time to
find your note of December 14 awaiting me.
I should have been pleased to contribute a few words to the
publication of the Austrian Society upon the occasion of its 10th
anniversary, though all such words of peace, coming from my country,
would be in sad contrast with realities.
However, all great causes have dark moments to traverse, and there
will again be a reaction against the militarism and the jingoism of
the present age.
I hope to see you in Vienna in the autumn, and to find you in good
health.
Please remember me to Baron de Suttner, and believe me
Sincerely yours
Philip Stanhope
This year the Peace Congress was to be held as early as April, and it
was to meet at Monaco by invitation of Prince Albert. The neighborhood
of Monte Carlo was a circumstance which caused some hesitation among
many of our friends,—I did not share it,—and only after a considerable
correspondence among the members of the Bern Bureau (in whose hands the
organization of the Congress lies) was a majority won for the choice of
Monaco. My husband and I were greatly pleased at the prospect of this
trip and the visit in this paradisiac corner of the world.
My happy frame of mind was increased by the fact that my book _Marthas
Kinder_ was on the eve of appearing. The proceeds from it (my publisher,
Pierson, had bought the novel with all rights, including those of
translation, for an honorarium of 15,000 marks) enabled me to stave off
for at least a little while longer the breaking up of our beloved
Harmannsdorf, and during this time so much might happen to rescue the
estate; so we looked forward with joyous hearts to the coming journey.