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brothers, who, understanding each other without forcing our own languages 

on each other, do not regard each other with suspicion because ignorance 

divides us, but love each other and shake hands, not in the insincere manner 

of one foreigner to another, but sincerely, as human to human. Let there be 

no doubt about the full importance of this day, for today, within the 

hospitable walls of Boulogne-sur-mer, we are not witnessing a meeting of 

French with English, Russians with Poles, but of human beings with human 

beings. Blessed be this day and may those to come be great and glorious! 

(Mi estas Homo 108) 

This speech by Zamenhof was remembered by the congress participants as one of the 

most emotional moments of their lives.  

The participants were greatly impressed by the theatrical presentation of Molière's 

The Forced Marriage. The congress program included many cultural events, excursions, 

a Holy Mass in Esperanto, a banquet in the casino, national meetings, working sessions, 

etc. The working sessions were presided over by Boirac, who navigated smoothly 

among the interests of competing groups and made sure that the most thorny problems 

(organizational and linguistic) either received only anodyne solutions or were deferred. 

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The congress rejected Zamenhof's proposal for a League and for a Central 

Committee. In this respect, the only decision made was that the Congress Executive 

(president Zamenhof; vice presidents Boirac, Michaux, Sebert, the German Edward 

Mybs,and the Irishman John Pollen, and four secretaries) would constitute an 

Organizing Committee for the next congress and would examine the questions that were 

not successfully resolved at the first congress. 

A provisional Language Committee (Lingva Komitato) was set up to consult with 

Zamenhof on questions of language. Its 98 members were named by Zamenhof himself. 

The question of the accented letters was delegated to the Language Committee, but it 

took no serious action on it until 1908, when the Committee was reorganized. 

The congress's most noteworthy decision was the approval of the Declaration of the 

essence of Esperantism, which defined Esperanto both linguistically and socially. 

Zamenhof's draft of the Boulogne Declaration had contained seven articles, but the 

Congress Executive edited it and left only five articles. 

In the Declaration, Zamenhof avoided pathos and mysticism. It is interesting to note 

that the first article cites among Esperantism's official goals the role of making peace 

within multi-ethnic countries, but does not relate Esperanto to peace making between 

countries. 

The Boulogne Declaration defined the Fundamento de Esperanto (Foundation of 

Esperanto) as the basis of the language. Compiled by Zamenhof before the congress. the 

Fundamento contains a Foreword, a Basic Grammar from 1887, Exercises (1894) and a 

Universal Dictionary (1893). 

The Declaration defines an Esperantist as “a person who knows and uses the 

Esperanto language regardless of its intended use”. 

At the Boulogne congress, Sebert recommended to the Congress Executive (i.e. the 

Organizing Committee) that it set up an independent office that would serve as a base 

for the Language and Organizing Committees, chaired respectively by Boirac and 

Sebert. Sebert and Javal jointly funded the office. 

After the Boulogne congress, Esperanto began to spread quickly, despite the 

backroom manoeuvres and reformist tendencies of the French leadership. According to 

the Central Office's statistics, there were 434 Esperanto associations in 1906, 756 in 

1907, and 1266 in 1908. A workers' group, Paco kaj Libereco (Peace and Freedom), was 

founded in 1905 and the Esperantist Merchants' Group was formed in 1906, both based 

in Paris. 

 

 

 

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