On the occasion of the decennial celebration of the Society of Austrian Friends of Peace I am sending to the Union, and above all to you,—its spiritual head, its soul,—my best congratulations. You can look back with pride and satisfaction over this long period of unceasing activity, which, supported by intrepid faith in your noble cause, rejoices in such splendid success and through the results of the Hague Conference must convert the most obstinate doubter to a belief in its necessity and usefulness. Accept, Baroness, the assurance of my especial consideration. Chlumecky, Former Minister Graz, December 31, 1901 The thought of universal peace can no longer be put out of the world; this is the first result of the League of the Friends of Peace! We have the same courage—so sorely needed—for peace as the soldier has for war! Salutations, friends, for the New Year! Peter Rosegger Aulestad, December 18, 1901 The future of the peace cause always comes to me in the guise of a sunrise. For us Northlanders the sunrise can mean so much more than for the people to the south of us; we expect it only once in a while, and greet it as a miracle. The darkness was so oppressively long, the silence so mysterious, the first glow over the rocky peaks so deceptive! It lasts and lasts and ever grows—but still no sun! Even when the sky is already streaming full of hope—yet still no sun! And it is cold—really colder than before, for fancy has become impatient. Then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, even while we are gazing, comes the so-long-expected Majesty! So powerful, so compellingly powerful that the eyes cannot endure it. We turn and look at the landscape, which, without our noticing it, has been so long ensouled; at the air which, without our perceiving it, has been so long flooded with light. Everything, everything, even down into the depths, and high up on the summits, is bathed in the sun, clear, complete, filled with warmth, throbbing with music.... So I think it is happening to us. In our yearning we do not take note of what is being accomplished—how near already the great sun of universal peace is. Something is coming, and it seems like a miracle. But it is no miracle; in our impatience we do not see how everything was all in readiness for it. My greeting to the assembly! Björnstjerne Björnson LXIII THE LAST YEAR