But, to turn from this swift success of a witticism to a soberer tone, I must tell you briefly of a soirée which I attended at Alexis de Tocqueville’s. He was at that time Minister of Foreign Affairs and was the most intelligent Frenchman whom I ever knew. With him, Cobden, and Bastiat I had a long conversation in which the peace question was treated more exhaustively than was possible in the Congress. We agreed that the fruit of peace could be ripened only on Germanic soil, while France and Russia would remain disturbing elements as long as they should have the power to be such. As far as I personally am concerned, I have always found myself in a difficult position as an apostle of peace. My father-in-law was a colonel. One of my sons-in-law is likewise a colonel. Two of my wife’s brothers went to fight against France as young captains in 1870. One of them did not come back at all; the other lost a leg at the storming of the heights of Spichern, and now hobbles round as a major. All my wife’s tears could not keep my only son from going as a volunteer against France, where he won the Iron Cross and the Order for Valor, with swords. He is now living in St. Paul on the Mississippi.... Yesterday I was interrupted while writing the first sheet of this, and now the second is drawing to an end. I will only call your attention to a poem entitled Die kriegerische Nazarener (“The Warlike Nazarenes”), which went through all the papers in 1854, before the breaking out of the Crimean War, and which you will find on page 120 of the ninth volume of my collected works (Berlin, Decker, 1867). It might be very appropriate for reprinting in the new edition, as is shown by the utterances of three ecclesiastical potentates, which it illustrates: The issue is the battle of the Cross against the heathen. The Metropolitan of Moscow It is for the glory of God that you are fighting. The Archbishop of Paris Jesus Christ, our Saviour, for whose sake you fight, will bless your arms.[30] With best greetings to the husband also, Friedrich Bodenstedt XXVII MENTONE AND VENICE The news of the Crown Prince’s death · Sojourn in Mentone · Octave Mirbeau · A winter in Venice · Old acquaintances · Princess Tamara and Marietta Saibante · Visit of Felix Moscheles to the widow “Tillings” · Moscheles as a peace propagandist · Formation of a section in Venice through Marquis Pandolfi · Grelix · The Princess of Montenegro · Princess Hatzfeld, born Von Buch · A memory of Cosima Wagner