Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life (Vol. 2 of 2)Suttner, Bertha von
History
Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life (Vol. 2 of 2)
Suttner, Bertha von
Peace; Suttner, Bertha von, 1843-1914; Women -- Austria -- Biography
We put ourselves out to secure the attendance of a select and
influential audience for the lecture in Vienna. I addressed myself to
the then French ambassador, Marquis de Reverseaux, who gave me every
assistance in his power in behalf of his fellow-countryman, whom he so
highly prized. He not only saw to it that the members of his embassy
should be present at the lecture, but he also undertook to extend
invitations to the whole diplomatic corps. We for our part sent
invitations to the ministers, to the principal officials at court, and
to the leading politicians. We made no attempt to arrange for a
particularly democratic assemblage, for in the first place the common
people would not understand French, and in the second place we were
particularly desirous that the political, court, and aristocratic
circles, which are accustomed to look so superciliously cold upon the
peace cause and the Hague Conference, should for once have a chance to
hear an explanation of it from the lips of a man who was himself a
diplomat and a politician and an aristocrat, and who had taken a
prominent part in the work of the Hague Conference. I had also taken
pains to get the directors of the Theresianum and the Oriental Academy
to send us a number of their students, for the teaching offered would be
particularly useful to just such young men, destined for political and
diplomatic careers.
The affair went off brilliantly. D’Estournelles spoke splendidly, and
the very numerous public, composed of just the elements that we desired,
listened with great attention and approbation. It was a _succès_.
That evening—the lecture having occupied the time from four till six—we
gave a small _souper intime_ in honor of our foreign guest. Among those
present were D’Estournelles’s two Austrian colleagues of the Hague
Court, Count Schönborn and Lammasch; also Barons Ernst von Plener and
Peter Pirquet of the Austrian Interparliamentary Group.
This year we did not attend the Peace Congress, which was held at
Glasgow. The following letter I received from the American delegate to
the Hague Conference, Dr. Holls, who, as it appeared, had undertaken to
make a journey through Europe on a peace mission. I had extended him an
invitation to visit me in Vienna.
Claridge’s Hotel, Brook Street, W.
July 26, 1901
My dear Madam:
Your friendly letter reached me here after many wanderings. I regret
very sincerely not having seen you in Vienna, but my time there was
exceedingly brief and almost wholly occupied with business.
As you have seen from the published interview, my journey to Russia
was very satisfactory. But I do not believe that it would be advisable
to publish anything further about it at present.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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