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.

Part Eight, 1898–1908

LV. THE TSAR’S RESCRIPT 187

Arrival of the good tidings. Extracts from editorials in Die Waffen nieder. Congratulatory letters from Moritz Adler, Dr. Karl von Scherzer, Björnstjerne Björnson, Balduin Groller, Professor Martens, Prince Dolgorukof, Vice Admiral Semsey, Hedwig Pötting, Kemény, Novikof, Henri Dunant. Objections of opponents.

LVI. EVENTS AND MEETINGS 202

The Empress Elisabeth. The last days of my father-in-law. Egidy on the assassination of the Empress. Session of the delegates in Turin. Egidy evening in Vienna. Reminiscence of the campaign of 1866. William T. Stead in Vienna on his pilgrimage. His portrait. His audience with Nicholas II. His meeting with Bloch. My interview with Muravieff. Conclusion of Spanish-American treaty of peace. Reply of the chairman of the Spanish Commission to a memorial from Émile Arnaud. Still the Dreyfus affair. General Türr with King Humbert. Egidy dead. Letter from his son.

LVII. BEFORE THE HAGUE 225

Emperor Nicholas regarding the reception of his rescript. Discouragement in St. Petersburg. Stead’s project for a peace crusade. Count Muravieff’s second circular. The wedge driven into the peace question. The general conception and our conception. Journey to Berlin. Osten-Sacken. Formation of an information committee. Letter from Bebel. Service in honor of Egidy. Trip to Nice. Meeting with Madame Adam. Monsieur Catusse. A noteworthy Dreyfus reminiscence. My lecture. Madame Bashkirtseff. Trip to Cannes for a lecture. Lucien Murat’s visit. Return to Harmannsdorf. Correspondence with Bloch, Scipione Borghese, and D’Estournelles de Constant. Letters from Hodgson Pratt and Élie Ducommun. A plan of action suggested by Henri Dunant.

LVIII. THE FIRST PEACE CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE 245

My Hague diary. Arrival. First interview. Stead’s interviews with the Tsar and with Bülow. Our call on the Austrian delegation. Divine service in the Russian chapel. Opening session. Johann von Bloch. Party at Beaufort’s. Yang-Yü and his wife. Baron d’Estournelles. Léon Bourgeois. We give a dinner. Richet’s call. Luncheon with Frau Moscheles. Andrew D. White. Extract from Staal’s opening speech. Call on our ambassador’s wife. Count Costantino Nigra. Reception at court. Lord Aberdeen. Sir Julian Pauncefote. Bloch plans a series of lectures. Plenary assembly of May 25. The Russian, English, and American motions.

LIX. THE FIRST PEACE CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE (CONTINUED) 270

J. Novikof. Reception at the Baroness Grovestins’s. Dr. Holls. Utterances of the nationalistic press. Excursion to Scheveningen. We give a small dinner. Threatening letter to Herr von Staal. At Ten Kate’s. Reports from Descamps. Beernaert on the Geneva Convention. Letter from Levysohn. Results in the matter of mediation. New acquaintances. First of Bloch’s evening lectures: subject, “The Development of Firearms.” Stead publishes a daily chronicle on the Conference. Young Vasily’s album. Removal to Scheveningen. Baron Pirquet brings a letter from the Interparliamentary Union of Brussels. Bloch’s second lecture: subject, “Mobilization.” My birthday. Dinner at Okoliczany’s. Lieutenant Pichon. Letters from aëronauts. Discussion on the permanent tribunal. President Kruger and Sir Alfred Milner. An amusing incident. Bloch’s third lecture: subject, “Naval Warfare.” A conversation with Léon Bourgeois. His call to Paris. False reports and denials. What Emperor Nicholas said to Stead. Rumor of the blocking of the arbitration business. Bloch’s final lecture: subject, “The War of the Future.”

Continue reading Memoirs of Bertha Von Suttner: the Records of an Eventful Life (vol. 2 of 2) free in the Wunder reader →