Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life (Vol. 2 of 2)
PART SEVEN (CONTINUED)
PAGE
XL. FROM HARMANNSDORF AND FROM CHICAGO 3
Slow increase. Far-reaching endeavors from our quiet corner. Childlessness. With Aunt Lotti. My brother. The World’s Fair at Chicago, and the Peace Congress. Olga Wisinger-Florian. I am represented by Olga Wisinger. Congress of Religions. Petition of the various ecclesiastical bodies to the governments in favor of a court of arbitration.
XLI. VASÍLI VERESHCHÁGIN 9
Vereshchágin in Vienna. He does the honors at his exhibition. “All Quiet before Plevna.” “Apotheosis of War.” Moltke standing before this picture. A picture of what Vereshchágin himself had seen during the war and painted. Concerning a picture which he could not paint. Further reminiscences of his military life. His Napoleon pictures. A remark of William II regarding them. War and hunting.
XLII. THE COMMITTEE MEETING AT BRUSSELS AND ITS RESULTS 15
Committee meeting of the Interparliamentary Union at Brussels. Letter from Senator Trarieux. Address to Gladstone. Address to the French and Italian deputies. Warning as to the duties of the Union. The “inevitable war” between France and Italy. The case of Aigues-Mortes. Settlement through the friends of peace in both countries.
XLIII. FROM DIARY AND PORTFOLIO 24
Extracts from diary. Caprivi in support of the military bill. Bebel’s interpellation. Invention of a bullet-proof cloth. Settlement of the Bering question. King Alexander to his Servians. Dynamite tragedies in Spain. Visit of the Russian fleet at Toulon. Marcoartu’s letter to me. His letter to Jules Simon. General inquiry of the Paris _Figaro_ as to a gift for the Tsaritsa. My answer to it. Exchange of letters with Émile Zola.
XLIV. VARIOUS INTERESTING LETTERS 37
Increase of correspondence. Countess Hedwig Pötting. Gift from Duke von Oldenburg. Schloss Erlaa. The duke’s consort. Peace efforts of Prince Peter von Oldenburg thirty years ago. Letter from this prince to Bismarck. Letter from Björnstjerne Björnson.
XLV. PEACE CONGRESS IN ANTWERP AND INTERPARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE 47
Preparation for the Congress by the Belgian government. Houzeau de Lehaye. A reminiscence of the battlefield of Sedan. Concerning free trade. Audience with King Leopold. Invitation to the Interparliamentary Conference. Reception the evening before. Pithy sentences from Rahusen’s address. Opening. “No other cause in the whole world....” Second day of deliberation. Stanhope. Gladstone’s proposal. Debate over the tribunal plan. Dr. Hirsch puts on the brake. Rejoinder by Frédéric Passy and Houzeau. Randal Cremer. Concluding festivities in Scheveningen.
XLVI. VARIOUS RECOLLECTIONS 60
In Harmannsdorf again. My husband writes _Sie wollen nicht_. Max Nordau’s opinion of it. My labors and correspondence. Rear Admiral Réveillère. Dolmens and menhirs. From the patriot of Brittany to the patriot of humanity. Réveillère’s views about social economy, the lot of the masses, professional politicians, etc. A fine comparison. Deaths of Prince Achille Murat, Duke von Oldenburg, and Ruggero Bonghi.
XLVII. FURTHER VARIED RECOLLECTIONS 69
The Union for Resistance to Anti-Semitism once more. Article by A. G. von Suttner. In the house of Christian Kinsky. Recollection of a home dinner with the Empress. War between Japan and China. Appeal of the Peace Congress to the Powers for intervention. Answer of the Russian Minister of War, Giers. The fruits of German military instruction in Japan. The Peace of Shimonoseki. Interparliamentary Conference in Brussels. Sending out the formulated and accepted plan for an arbitration tribunal. First appearance of the Hungarian Group, with Maurus Jókai and Count Apponyi at its head. Hopeful and distressful signs of the times. From the Congress of the Association Littéraire in Dresden. Trip to Prague. At Professor Jodl’s. Lecture in “The German House.” Banquet. La Busca. Visit at Vrchlicky’s. Trip to Budapest. Founding of the Hungarian Peace Society. War in sight between England and the United States. Removal of the danger.
XLVIII. POLITICAL KALEIDOSCOPE 90
Gumplowicz: father and son. The Italian campaign in Africa. Utterances of King Menelik. The defeat of Adowa. The warlike press. Demonstrations against war. Victory of the peace party. Correspondence with Carneri. From Armenia and Macedonia. Insurrection in Cuba and a sharp proclamation. Professor Röntgen’s discovery. The Anglo-American arbitration treaty. Death of Jules Simon. A letter from Jules Simon.
XLIX. THE SEVENTH WORLD’S PEACE CONGRESS AND THE SEVENTH INTERPARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE IN BUDAPEST 107
General Türr’s visit at Harmannsdorf. Anecdotes from his life. Garibaldi’s appeal to the governments. Our journey to Budapest. Reception and preliminary festival. Opening of the Congress. From Türr’s address. The historical Millennial Exposition. Élie Ducommun gives a report on the year’s events. Debate: Armenian horrors. Address to the pope. Letter from Dr. Ofner. Excursion to the Margareteninsel. The youngest member of the Congress. Exciting debate about dueling. Nepluief and his institution. Deputation from the Society for the Protection of Animals. Conclusion of the Congress. Preliminary festival of the Conference. Soirée at the Parkklub. Opening session in the House of Magnates. Second session. Soirée at the Prime Minister’s. From the protocol. Apponyi on the participation of Russia in the conferences. The Russian consul Vasily and his action. Excursion into the future. Visit at Maurus Jókai’s. Gala operatic performance. End of the Conference. Opening of the “Iron Gate.”
L. OTHER EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1896 134
Jingo criticism of Budapest. A prophetic chapter from _Schach der Qual_. A poem by Hoyos and a letter from Nathaniel Rothschild. Visits of the Tsar. Extracts from diary. Correspondence between the Austrian Peace Society and the English Department of Foreign Affairs. Treaty of peace between Menelik and Italy.
LI. ALFRED NOBEL’S DEATH AND WILL 141
News of his death. His last letter to me. The will. Letter from Moritz Adler. The will is contested. Letter from the executor. Emanuel Nobel’s noble act. Fortunate solution. Distribution of the peace prize up to date.
LII. FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR 1897 148
From my collections of letters. Signing of the Anglo-American arbitration treaty. The ratification fails by three votes. Insurrection in Crete. The concert of the powers. Outbreak of the Turko-Grecian War. Extracts from diary. The letter “to all good men” from Fortress Montjuich. Letter from Prince Scipione Borghese. Our literary labors. My audience with Emperor Franz Joseph I. Text of the petition submitted.
LIII. SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR 1897 161
Letter from Count Eugen Zichy. The Eighth Peace Congress at Hamburg. Letter from Prince Emil Schönaich-Carolath. Egidy’s début. Regarding the assassination of Canova. Public meeting in the Sagebiel. Egidy’s speech. New adherents. Henri Dunant. Appeal to the Oriental peoples. Extracts from diary. Bad news from all sides. Attitude of the press. The Russian Emperor in Darmstadt. Letter from Marie Büchner. The Dreyfus affair. Dispatch of the European squadron to the Yellow Sea.
LIV. A STIRRING HALF YEAR 176
Outbreak of the Spanish-American War. Article in mourning borders. Fridtjof Nansen’s lecture in Vienna. Extracts from diary. Bereavement in the family, Countess Lotti Sizzo’s death. Johann von Bloch’s book. Death of Bismarck. End of the Spanish-American War.