You have caused me great joy in addressing to me your two letters, which I consider as the private diary of an apostle of peace, and which we shall preserve with particular care because there will be found in them, in time to come, precious information. Many of our friends to whom I have communicated your impressions have got from reading them a confidence and a courage which they to some degree lacked. Continue, I beg of you, to keep me informed in this way. The editing of the bimonthly correspondence will naturally demand the greatest prudence, and I shall find it difficult to make selections from the reports of the press; your _renseignements intimes_ will help me out of this difficult pass. You cannot believe how many inquiries for information I receive to which I am obliged to reply immediately, carefully guarding my replies. It is a good sign, for it means that everywhere people are beginning to interest themselves in the questions that figure in the programme of The Hague; but the bad side of the medal is that, as I am obliged to remain at my post, ready at any given moment to radiate from the center to the extremities whatever it may become necessary to communicate to the groups of peace at a given moment, I cannot bring to you at The Hague the support of my presence and my efforts. Each to his place! You fit admirably in yours, and that is the main thing. _Bon courage!_ Every good wish to M. de Suttner, I beg of you, and to the other devoted peace workers who may inquire for me occasionally. Your devoted and affectionate colleague Élie Ducommun The founder of the Red Cross, Henri Dunant, gave me the following directions for the way we are traveling. Proof is shown therein that Henri Dunant desired from the Conference not the promotion of the work which he had established, but rather the establishment of a great new work, international justice. No longer was “Red Cross” his rallying cry, but “White Banners.” May 16, 1899 My dear Baroness: Permit me, madam, to insist very strongly on what I consider a capital point, namely, the extreme importance of seeing the Congress pass an official, diplomatic resolution on the subject of a _Permanent Diplomatic Commission on Mediation_. In my letter of the twelfth I called it a “Permanent Bureau on Mediation”; now the word “Commission” is more suitable, and, too, it must not be confounded with the permanent International Bureau of Peace at Bern, which is a voluntary work and has no diplomatic mission—that is to say, in the eyes of diplomacy it does not count.