Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/192

1 64 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. "We have heard a voice from India," said Dr. Barrows. "Let us hear a well-beloved voice from Russia." Prince Serge Wolkonsky then spoke as follows : I hardly realize that it is for the last time in my life I have the honor, the pleasure, the fortune to speak to you. On this occasion, I should like to tell you so many things that I am afraid that if I give free course to my sentiments I will feel the delicate but imperative touch of Mr. President's hand on my shoulder long before I reach the end of my speech. There- fore, I will say thanks to all of you ladies and gentlemen in the shortest possible words — thanks for your kind attention, for your kind applause, your kind laughter, for your hearty hand-shakes. You will believe how deeply I am obliged to you when I tell you that this was the first time in my life that I ever took an active part in a congress, and I wish any enter- prise I might undertake later on might leave me such happy remembrances as this first experience. Before bidding you farewell, 1 want to express a wish ; may the good feelings you have shown me so many times, may they, through my unworthy personality, spread to the people of my country, whom you know so little and whom I love so much. If I ask you that, it is because 1 know the prejudices which prevail among the people of your country. A com- patriot said the other day that Russians thought all Americans were angels, and that Americans thought all Russians were brutes. Now, once in awhile, these angels and these brutes come together and both are deceived in their expectations. We see that you are certainly not angels, and you see we are not quite as much brutes as you thought we were. Now why this disappointment ? Why this surprise ? Why this astonishment ? Because we won't remember that we are men and nothing else and nothing more. We cannot be anything more, for to be a man is the highest thing we can pretend to be on this earth. I do not know whether many have learned in the sessions of this Parliament what respect of God is, but I know that no one will leave the Congress without having learned what respect of man is. And should the Parliament of Religions of 1893 have no other result but this, it is enough to make the names of Dr. Barrows and those who have helped him imperishable in the history of humanity. Should this Congress have no other result than to teach us to judge our fellow man by his individual value, and not by the political opinions he may have of his country, I will express my gratitude to the Congress, not only in the name of those your brothers who are my countrymen, but in the name of those our brothers whom we so often revile because the political tradi- tions of their country refuse the recognition of home rule ; in the name of those, our fellow men, whose motherland stands on the neck of India ; in the name of those, our brothers, whom we so often blame only because the