Perhaps the idea might occur to them of saying: To unite in face of a common enemy, we must be reconciled; to defend civilization against barbarism, let us begin by being civilized ourselves; if we desire to protect society from the danger which the action of a madman may inflict upon it, let us, first of all, do away with the thousandfold more terrible danger which the frown of one of the mighty of the earth would be sufficient to let loose upon it; if we wish to punish the lawless, let us recognize a law above ourselves; if we wish to parry the blows of the desperate, let us cease to spend billions in fomenting despair. But in order that the official delegates may use this reasonable language, they must have back of them the universal acclaim (_la clameur universelle_) to encourage them, or, better still, to compel them to do so. The evolution of humanity is not a dream, it is a fact scientifically proved. Its end cannot be the premature destruction toward which it is being precipitated by the present system; its end must be the reign of law in control of force. Arms and ferocity develop in inverse ratio,—the tooth, the big stick, the sword, the musket, the explosive bomb, the electric war engine; and, on the other side, the wild beast, the savage, the warrior, the old soldier, the fighter of to-day (so-called safeguard of peace), the humane man of the future, who, in possession of a power of boundless destructiveness, will refuse to use it. Whether this future be near or far depends on the work done in _les petits coins_. Allow me, then, monsieur, not to share in your _hélas!_ but to congratulate myself in the name of all the peace workers to whom you have promised your powerful aid,—a promise which I note with a feeling of deep gratitude. Accept my, etc., Berthe de Suttner XLIV VARIOUS INTERESTING LETTERS Increase of correspondence · Countess Hedwig Pötting · Gift from Duke von Oldenburg · Schloss Erlaa · The duke’s consort · Peace efforts of Prince Peter von Oldenburg thirty years ago · Letter from this prince to Bismarck · Letter from Björnstjerne Björnson