The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-16 00:00:00

THE GENEVAN CONGRESS.

It appears not to have been true, u reported by
telegraph both to Paris and London, that the Peace Con-
gress of Geneva wss broken up by any act of violence.
There were great dissensions between the Swiss and
French members, and the whole thing turned out a muddle,
but the room was not " cleared." According to the letters
of numerous French correspondents the greatest suooess of
the congress (not even excepting the speech of M. Simon, of
Troves) was obtained by a lady, Madame Steyr, whose
literary name is Fanny Lewald. The following ingenious
set of articles read on her behalf by • M. Vogt were
greeted with applause " and approving laughter :"
" 1. To decide a difference by fisticuffs or the stick is
by common consent an unworthy and ignoble proceeding.
"2. That which is unworthy and ignoble for one man
must be unworthy and ignoble for a hundred, • thousand,
ten thousand, or a hundred thousand.
"3. If it be admitted that it is unworthy and ignoble
to decide one's own quarrels by pugilism, it must be
worse to fight under the orders of • third party and for
his benefit, and to kill men who never did you any har.n.
"4. Two men who fight in the street are blamed by all
reasonable and civilised people, and it never, occurs to any
body to glorify the conqueror.
" 5. Why should we glorify the conqueror in a combat
fought by hundreds of thousands of men for an object
which, if attained, is scarcely ever of any advantage to
them ?

"C. When two men come to blows in the street, it
never comes into their head to invoke the aid of the Deity
or to suppose that God takes a special interest in the issue
of their fight. The same may be said of a fight of ten men
on a side.

"7. If two men who fight dared to talk of the God of
pugilists, and call on him to help them in their unreason-
able and disgraceful scuffle they would justly be set down
as fools and blasphemers.
" 8. And in like manner 10 or 20 men who should fight
in the streets and appeal to the God of pugilism, would
be called fools and blasphemers.

"9. What then is the exact number of combatants re-
quisite to justify the invocation to take a side in the fight
of that God whom you call the God of love ?
" 10. Do you really believe that the number and quan-
tity can make any impression upon God—upon a being
whose essence is infinite? Do you not therefore think
that to talk of a God of battles is just as blasphemous as
to talk of a God of pugilists ?"
The Peace Congress Committee, in their farewell address,
declare the principles which they assembled to proclaim to
be these :—Democracy ; political, economical, and philoso-
phical liberty ; the abolition of standing armies ; and
sympathy with oppressed nationalities. They also publish
a final resolution, declaring that the great government* of
Europe have proved themselves incapable of preserving
peace and developing the moral and material forms of
modern society ; they, therefore, found a cosmopolitan
federation with a permanent central committee at Berne,
and they will publish a Franco-German journal, called The
United Stater of Europe, at Bale. The next Congress will
be held at Mannheim.