Consider the French Revolution which should have introduced the ideals of peace equality and fraternity into international relations and instead two years after the Declaration of the Rights of Man let loose a tempest of war such as the world had not seen since Attila46 Consider the fact that two years after the founding of the Society of the Friends of Peace in France47 which was greeted warmly by men of letters by statesmen and by workers associations throughout France and Germany came the outbreak of the Franco-German War disastrous not only for France but also for the cause of peace throughout Europe And then remember that our distinguished master Frederic Passy was not returned to office by his electors48, perhaps on account of his grievous sin in having become the most fervent apostle of international peace Notice too that not one of our most eminent pacifists has ever been summoned to lead a government or to direct foreign policy Note that the Pope, the vicar of Christ on earth as he is called, shuts himself up like a voluntary prisoner in the Vatican in protest against loss of temporal power49; yet when his voice should have rung out above every other in true Christian love and anguish in an effort to avert war at its inception it was either never raised at all or else too late, or too feebly just as were the voices of his most recent predecessors. Consider the way that poets with few exceptions, pay court to fame and popularity by singing the praises of war and massacre. Consider again how the most sublime virtues are always associated with the national flag while cruelty is ascribed to the enemy alone - this in order to sustain mistrust, hatred and enmity between nations. Remembering and pondering all this oh I confess to you that I too have had moments of discouragement wondering whether the idea to which I devote and have for years devoted all my time and energy might be no more than an illusion of my poor mind a dream like Thomas More's Utopiaor our own Campanella's City of the Sun50