Now we made our preparations for going to Rome. I also wrote to sundry distinguished personages at home and abroad, requesting letters of greeting and approval which I might lay before the congress.
Some of these, as well as of those that had already been sent spontaneously, I insert here; they belong to the history of the beginnings of the Austrian Peace Society:
Madame:
I was just reading your novel Die Waffen nieder, which Mr. Bulgakof had sent me, when I received your letter. I greatly appreciate your work, and the idea comes to me that the publication of your novel is a happy augury.
The abolition of slavery was preceded by the famous book of a woman, Mrs. Beecher Stowe; God grant that the abolition of war may follow upon yours. I do not believe that arbitration is an efficient means of abolishing war. I am just about finishing a treatise on this subject, in which I discuss the only means which in my opinion can render wars impossible. Nevertheless, all efforts dictated by a sincere love for humanity will bear fruit; and the congress at Rome, I am certain, will contribute much, just as that at London last year did, to popularize the idea of the flagrant contradiction in which Europe finds itself between the military status of the nations and the Christian and humanitarian principles which they profess.
Receive, Madame, the assurance of my sentiments of genuine esteem and sympathy.
(Signed) Léon Tolstoy[[33]]
October 10/22, 1891
Berlin, October 20, 1891
Highly honored Lady: