That the war was so long controlled, that it is now to be localized, that the “European Concert” will prevent the general conflagration,—this is a victory of the New. That the war broke out at all, that the powers look on and hesitate to interfere,—this is a victory of the Old.
It is clearly shown how necessary and advantageous at the present time an effective European code of laws, a European tribunal, one European army, would be. The embryo of these things has shown itself, to be sure, but the development into a strong, healthy, living thing is yet to be.
Yes, tendencies toward a federation of the civilized countries are included in the “Concert.” If this has gone forward with little harmony and unsteady step, the fault lies in this fact: it is the might of the mighty, not the rights of the weak, that they want to support. Much stress is laid on the consideration that is due the will represented by the great powers, not on the consideration that should be given the cause of the weak. Compassion, righteousness, and liberty,—that is the triad that must lie at the basis of a genuine peace concert!
A picture from the campaign: Wild flight of the Greeks. For miles and miles around the darkness of the night was illuminated by the flashes of the shots which the fugitives in wild confusion fired at one another. Horses, becoming unmanageable under the blows of the whip, dashed off and overturned the wagons with all their contents. Helpless men and wailing women everywhere, over whom the fugitives, impelled by despair, like wild hordes, recklessly trampling everything and everybody under foot, dashed away through the night....
In the meantime, while the war is raging on one side, in perfect silence the conflicts obviated by arbitration are increasing in number. The controversy between the United States and England as to the Guiana boundary, and a similar controversy between France and Brazil, have been submitted to arbitration, the former on the fifth, the latter on the tenth, of April.
A war cloud, however, is rising between Great Britain and the Transvaal. Will public opinion be influenced strongly enough by our friends in England to avert the danger?
Egidy writes me that he has applied to the Spanish ambassador in Berlin with regard to the cry for help from Barcelona.[[20]]
About that time I received the following letter from Prince Scipione Borghese, the same who ten years later was to make the great automobile trip from Pekin to Paris:
London, April 28, 1897
My dear Baroness: