Excerpt
The Prophetic Faculty: War and Peace.
In our last issue, the psychometric faculty of prophecy was illustrated by predictions of peace, while generals, statesmen, and editors were promising a gigantic war. In this number the reader will find a grand prediction of war, while statesmen and states were anticipating peace, and a southern statesman, even upon the brink of war, offered to drink all the blood that would be shed.
The strength of the warlike spirit and prediction at the time psychometry was prophesying peace was conspicuous even as late as the ninth of March, when the London correspondent of the Sun wrote as follows:
“An eminent Russian general with whom I have talked believes the plan of Russian attack on Austria is fully developed. Galicia is to be the battleground between the two countries. Russia will enter the province without trouble, as there is nothing to hinder her. Then she will make a dash to secure the important strategic railroad which runs parallel with the Galician frontier, and seek to drive the Austrians over the Carpathians.
“That Galicia will witness the first fighting is generally admitted, as also that the possession of the strategic railroad, running as it does just at the rear of the Austrian positions, would be the most vital question. It may be interesting to say that military men of whatever nationality look upon an early war as a certain thing. They are not content to say they believe war is coming; they are absolutely positive of it, and each little officer has his own personal way of conclusively proving that this sort of peace cannot go on any longer.
“Meanwhile there are lots of straws floating about this week, which indicate that international winds are still blowing toward war. From Russian Poland there is reported an interruption in all kinds of business, owing to the war scare. Manufacturers refuse to accept orders from private persons, and financial institutions have still further weakened business by reducing their credit to a minimum. A letter from St. Petersburg tells of the tremendous enthusiasm of the troops at the review by the Czar on last Saturday, of the wild cheering for his imperial Majesty, of the loud and strident whistles audible above the roar of the cannon with which the officers command their men, and of the general blending of barbaric fierceness and courage with modern discipline and fighting improvements.
“In Vienna the troops are hard at work practising with the Numannlicher repeating rifle, with which all have been provided. The Sunday observance act, usually rigorously enforced, has been suspended, that the government orders for military supplies may be completed two weeks earlier than contracted for.
“The business of the Hotchkiss gun-making concern is shown to have increased one hundred per cent with the war scare, and the eagerness to secure the stock, which now stands at thirty per cent premium, shows a conviction among monied men. The capital has been subscribed fifteen times over.”
The persistent prediction of peace was speedily fulfilled....