And yet a third loss: On the 31st of October, 1895, Ruggero Bonghi, so beloved in our circle, died in Torre del Greco at the age of sixty-eight. Italy mourned in him the reformer of public education, the professor of philosophy, the editor of the Nuova Antologia, the founder and director of the orphan asylum at Anagni; we mourned the active apostle of our common cause, the man who from a lofty tribune had spoken these beautiful words: “We promoters of peace, who work for it with glowing zeal, have in the last analysis no other object than this,—that man shall become wholly human.” Our Austrian Union telegraphed the following words to Rome for the funeral: Sincero dolore e riconoscenza eterna. “Sincere grief and eternal gratitude.”
XLVII
FURTHER VARIED RECOLLECTIONS
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
This year—I am still speaking of 1895, as I turn the leaves of the volume containing my diary for that period—we did not make any journey to a Peace Congress, for the simple reason that no Congress was held. But we did not on that account spend the whole year at Harmannsdorf. Trips were made to Prague, to Budapest (with lectures), to Lussinpiccolo, which I will describe later on; and we visited Vienna a number of times, whither we were called by duty and pleasure.
The business of his Union caused My Own much labor and much anxiety. Anti-Semitism, against which he was waging battle, had increased rather than diminished in violence. Dr. Karl Lueger, a leader in the Anti-Semitic party, had been nominated and elected by that party as mayor; but the Emperor did not confirm the election, to the indignation of a large part of the bourgeoisie and to the consternation of those higher circles who, under the influence of their spiritual advisers, supported the candidature of Karl Lueger.
An Austrian aristocrat holding an important position told me of finding himself in a company at court when the news of Lueger’s nonconfirmation was brought. “Oh, the poor Emperor!” cried the Duchess of Württemberg, daughter of Archduke Albrecht, “the poor Emperor—in the hands of the Freemasons!” And a year later, in the same circle, where my informant happened to be again when the news of Lueger’s confirmation came, the same princess raised her eyes and her clasped hands to heaven with the words, “God be praised! Light has dawned on the Emperor at last!”
That was the time when a Jew-baiting chaplain—Deckert was his name—preached from the pulpit and in pamphlets in the most vehement terms against the Jews—with success. This induced the “anti”-union to enter the field and to appear with a protest before the president of the House of Deputies. But I will let my husband himself have the floor. He published in the Neue Freie Presse the following article, the contents of which will best show what was going on in the camp of the Anti-Semites, and what thoughts and purposes were awakened thereby in the camp of their opponents:
The Present Situation
Now the wily old magician
Once again his leave has taken!