Madam:
You ask if I will come to the meeting at Vienna. Alas! no, and I am very sorry that I cannot. I have taken upon me all kinds of obligations which are devouring my life without any too great advantage to the causes I am serving. You thoughtlessly accept an engagement and discover the next morning that if you had not alienated your liberty you could make a better use of your energies.
I could do nothing which would be more in line with my ideas and my tastes, if it be permitted to speak of one’s inclinations when it is a question of duty; no, I could do nothing that would satisfy me better than to go to Vienna and fight under your leadership and that of your friends against this eternal war from which we are suffering in the midst of perfect peace, and which is becoming a disease endemic in the whole human race.
I know perfectly well that I should not say anything which has not been said and which ought not to be repeated again this time. I do not blush for our cause because of its antiquity, nor because of the necessity which rests on its defenders of reiterating unceasingly the same arguments and the same complaints. It is like a Catholic litany, which ceaselessly repeats the same words to the same music, and which, in its monotony, is none the less an energetic and passionate prayer. I should have liked to mingle my voice in that chorus of thousands of voices which will be raised in protest against the collective assassinations, against the official massacres, against the destruction of human life and property in this horrible hell.
As I am unable to go there and raise my voice, I find some consolation, madam, in sending you my lamentation; and permit me to add to it my perfect admiration for all you are doing, and the homage of my respect.
Jules Simon
XLIX
THE SEVENTH WORLD’S PEACE CONGRESS AND THE SEVENTH INTERPARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE IN BUDAPEST
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”
Now we were getting ready to start for Budapest, where, during the Millennial Festival, the Seventh World’s Peace Congress and the Seventh Interparliamentary Conference were to be held.
General Türr was chosen as chairman of the Congress. On the twenty-sixth of August we were surprised by a dispatch from Türr announcing that he was coming to Harmannsdorf. He had arrived in Vienna from Rome, and before continuing his journey to Budapest he wanted to fulfill a promise made long before to visit us in our home.