Theodor Herzl A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE By J. de Haas ( Concluded )
THE THIRD CONGRESS.
He approached the Third Congress with greater fearlessness than ever. The movement had breasted the founding of the Trust, and the whole Jewish world was stung into active thought by the Dreyfus affair, in which Herzl took a very keen and positive interest. Already a broader scheme of government had become necessary, and new men as well as new elements were making themselves evident. He had a keen and instant judgment of men. When Bernard Lazare ascended the platform of the Second Congress, Herzl remarked: "That is the opposition; the opposition never creates anything." He had before his vision the impending trouble in Roumania. He made an earnest plea for a world attempt to deal with this issue, while he was opening direct negotiations with the Sultan of Turkey. It was about then that he had written the first chapters of "Altneuland," and his private discussions began to deal with the hard work that realization would mean. He was very conscious of these difficulties. "All this is child's play to the future," he urged; and he looked with almost a fatherly sympathy on Achad Ha'am and the then new "Culturists," who were arguing theories, while he wished and tried to deal only with facts. There was amongst the Zionists a slightly demented zealot, Marco Baruch, whose utterances were likely to do the cause injury. Herzl received him
with every possible sympathy ; and when remonstrated with, replied, “He gave his life to the cause; we owe him everything .” Another had betrayed him, but he was long immovable against every attempt to expel the man from the ranks. “He gave me a hand when many wer® afraid of beine seen in mv company.”
At the Congress he received a telegram from the Sultan’s Master of Ceremonies, and at the same time he was planning for an interview with the Czar. It was about then that he negotiated a treaty with the I. C. A., to which an obsctre reference can be found in his Congress address. In committee he held the same sway as in public Congress ; and it was at this Congress that he first resorted to the use of bromide to quiet a nervous affection of the heart.
He was a notable figure amongst the visitors to the Peace Congress at The Hague, and interviewed M. Bourgeios and other statesmen. Early in 1900 he was in London, where the late Major Pond offered him $30,000 for a lecturing tour through the United States. Herzl replied: "Explain to Major Pond that I cannot sell the thoughts of the Jewish people." He had hopes of crossing the Atlantic at some future date—as the Zionist leader. The sense of duty was strong upon him, and he asked the writer one day, jestingly: "What would have happened to me if I had been born a German Junker?" His mind was filled with