I was now invited as the guest of many distinguished personages, and
thoroughly enjoyed my life for the next few days. I found New Amazonian
men quite as charming as the women, both as regards physique and
culture. Beards were in great favour here, and shaving was decidedly at
a discount, but a great length of hair was not coveted by anyone, and
the beards were always neatly clipped.
At the different entertainments I noticed a great deal of promiscuity
such as would hardly be tolerated in aristocratic English society. Not
that there was ever anyone present who was not perfectly well-bred. But
intellect was the principal passport to social privileges here, and we
all know that intellectuality may languish in obscure corners in
England, unless backed by strong personal or monetary interest, and that
our class prejudices are unpleasantly strong.
A young mechanician whom I met at the house of one of the Prime Advisers
was a universal favourite, and his modesty and good sense were admirable
foils to the plethora of self-esteem which I have seen engendered in
English “lions” for far less potent reasons. I was told that his
inventions and improvements in matters relating to sanitary science were
so marvellous and of so beneficent a nature, that he was to be rewarded
with the medal of the Order of Merit, an honour which, it will be
observed, was well worth having, he being only the thirtieth recipient
within two hundred years.
It was not difficult for me to secure an interview with him, as mutual
curiosity drew us together. If I had expected his conversation to savour
of “shop,” I was strongly mistaken, for not a word of his own great
achievements did he breathe, and he drew me out so skilfully, that
half-an-hour passed in conversation with him before his professional
instincts were at all aroused, and then it was in response to some reply
I had made respecting the locality in which I resided when last I
remembered being in my own country.
“Within fifteen minutes walk of the house in which George Stephenson
resided!” he exclaimed in great wonderment. “I always understood that it
was quite a humble affair. Surely it must have crumbled to dust
centuries ago?”
“By no means.” I returned. “The cottage looked very pretty and
picturesque the last time I saw it. It is tenanted by people who take a
pride in the garden, and it would compare favourably in external
appearance with any other cottage of the same size in England. It is
known locally as the ‘Dial House,’ as it boasts a sundial of which some
portion was the work of Stephenson himself. At the end of the house is a
very well-stocked greenhouse, and the space of ground in which the great
engineer had some lines laid for experimental purposes is converted into
a kitchen garden.”
“It seems so incredible, that I can hardly take it all in,” said John
Saville, with a smile which robbed his words of all possibility of
giving offence. “Nevertheless, I would give much to be able to see the
same place, and witness the actual scenes in which a great genius
conceived the wonderful inventions which revolutionised the commerce and
social relations of the world.”
“But you would not appear to venerate Stephenson’s inventions very much,
since you have discarded them altogether in favour of other systems of
locomotion.”
“True. But our electric-hydraulic-ways are in reality gradual
evolvements arising from the basis afforded by a knowledge of locomotive
travelling, as it still existed a few centuries ago. And we can never
forget that for some hundreds of years railways were the chief factors
of civilisation.”
“There is another thing which New Amazonians have discarded, for no
sufficient reason it seems to me.”
“And that is?”
“Christianity.”
“There you labour under a mistake. New Amazonians did not discard
Christianity. It was Christianity which declined to help them. When New
Amazonia was first peopled by the colonists from Teuto-Scotland, the
adult colonists were, as you doubtless know, all women. It was the
intention of these women to govern their State with as much success as
was compatible with the rejection of conventionality and traditionary
laws. It had hitherto been their lot to be excluded from a great
proportion of national privileges, which had been usurped by the
masculine sex for ages. In casting about for the principal causes of
their limitations of fairplay, they found, them, or thought they did so,
in the doctrines of Christianity. One of the principal Christian writers
indeed, seemed to be quite as much bent upon insulting, humiliating, and
subjugating woman, as he was upon spreading the Christian cause. New
Amazonian leaders found that they could not take an active part in
public affairs without violating all the rules laid down for woman’s
guidance and man’s encouragement by the Apostle Paul. It was a case
either of Christianity and reversion to Slavery, or a sort of
Unitarianism and Freedom, and they did not hesitate long as to what
choice to make. They were not likely, being intelligent beings, to
inaugurate a retrogressive movement by instructing their boys in tenets
which constantly preached the inferiority and subservience of women,
especially as they believed St. Paul’s utterances on matters feminine to
be dictated more by spite than by honest conviction.”
“And what were their grounds for this belief?”
“Their reasons are easily explained. We have it on reliable authority
that Saul of Tarsus, whose parents were Greeks, not Jews, but who had
himself adopted the Jewish persuasion, was a man of very violent
passions and prejudices. He hated the Christians, and took delight in
helping to exterminate them. It was when in Jerusalem, bent upon some
such mission, that he was introduced to the daughter of the Jewish High
Priest, and fell passionately in love with her. To his intense
mortification, his proposal for her hand was rejected, and he henceforth
hated both women and Jews, becoming enthusiastically Christian by way of
a change.”
“But, even if this be true, the fact that Paul is not believed in here
would hardly account for the repudiation of the doctrines taught by the
other apostles of Christianity.”
“I think it would. You see, Paul was a man of great ability, who had had
the advantage of studying under one of the greatest teachers of the age.
His words carried weight with them, and influenced those with whom he
associated. His writings and influence are inseparable from
Christianity. Even were this not so, there is only too much proof given
in History that of all bigots and fanatics, Christian bigots and
fanatics are the most cruel, relentless, and implacable. Christ Himself
would have repudiated a religion which has made His name an excuse for
robbery, oppression, murder, and immorality.”
“You surely exaggerate enormously. All Christians disseminate the
doctrines preached by Christ in His famous Sermon on the Mount. The Ten
Commandments especially are taught to all young Christians.”
“Yes, and a fine mockery it has been, to be sure! You will remember that
one commandment adjures us to refrain from making ‘any graven image, nor
the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or in the earth
beneath, or in the water under the earth.’ We are forbidden to bow down
to such things, or to worship them. And yet how small a proportion of
Christian peoples ever obeyed these injunctions! Until the time of one
Martin Luther, God himself was utterly set aside in the Christian
churches, which were filled with images and shrines, before which
deluded suppliants poured out their vain supplications. Christianity had
been entirely supplanted by Idolatry, and existed as such only in name.
Again, we are forbidden to take the name of the great Life-giver in
vain, and yet what do we find recorded? Priests, calling themselves
Christians, professed to have the power to grant forgiveness of sins in
the name of the Almighty! Some of these sins were actually _in futuro_,
and whether past, or still to be committed, their confession to a
priest, accompanied by the gift of a sum of money, ensured a free pardon
from Heaven. Of course, the _money_ was always required, and those who
were too poor to pander to priestly greed were remorselessly consigned
to Purgatory. Murder, of course, was strictly forbidden, and yet the
advocates of Christianity murdered and tortured thousands of people,
simply because they presumed to differ slightly in opinion from those in
office. Stealing was prohibited; but the priests were willing to take
the last mite from the oppressed poor, rather than abate one jot of
their lazy, sensuous privileges. As for the sin of covetousness, in whom
has it ever shown itself more rampant than in the men whose chief
energies were directed towards appropriating the wealth of all with whom
they came in contact, for the joint benefit of themselves and the
Church?”
“I grant you all this. But it refers to a state of things which has long
since passed away.”
“Has image-worship passed away? Do priests work for the pure love of
God, or do they look upon their vocation as a means of making a
livelihood more to their taste than some others? Is the priestly office
the guerdon of merit and ability? Or is it still the perquisite of those
who have money and family influence at command? Do priests exercise
universal charity and kindly feeling? Have they given up thinking that
none but themselves and a few like-minded individuals will be allowed to
enter Heaven? Do they feel as much reverence for goodness in the lowly,
as they do for grandeur in high places? Do they discourage the presence
in their churches of disreputable persons, if these persons happen to be
rich, and are able to be used as pecuniary aids? In a word, are the
churches possessed of truly Christ-like qualities, without which none
can be a Christian?”
John Saville had by this time worked himself into a perfect glow of
enthusiasm, while I certainly felt correspondingly humiliated, for I was
not in a position to return an affirmative answer to all his questions.
Did I not remember seeing a man who had not thrown off the effects of
the previous night’s intoxication officiating in a prominent position,
with the priest’s approval, in one of our Established churches? Have I
not witnessed many another instance of priestly tolerance of evil for
Mammon’s sake? Have I not recently met with a specimen of clerical
intolerance which would do credit to the religious persecutors of old?
Candidates for confirmation are requested to confess their crimes to
themselves, and to turn from the error of their ways, before they can
consider themselves fit to take their stand as Christians. The sins and
crimes are presented to the eyes of the penitents in the form of printed
questions, and one of these questions runs thus: “Have you ever entered
a _Dissenting Chapel_?”
I saw this myself in the year 1889, and was compelled now to admit the
conviction that to discard Christ and to discard Christianity may be two
very different things. It seemed marvellous, when I came to think of it,
how a thinking people like the New Amazonians should, after all these
ages, have singled out Christ as the one pure and shining light of
earth, so godlike as to be worthy of being at once translated to
companionship with the Giver of Life, seeing that His professed devotees
have, since the earliest times of the Church, done more to bring His
cause into disrepute than all His enemies.
“You admit yourself worsted?” smiled Mr. Saville.
“I confess as much,” I replied. “But how comes it that you, a man,
should so enthusiastically uphold the only Constitution in the world
which has, so far as I know, successfully resisted man’s striving for
supremacy?”
“Because I am thoroughly satisfied and contented with my lot, and
because no country upon earth presents such advantages to her citizens
as New Amazonia does. Our women have proved their capacity to govern
wisely and well. Our Constitution has found imitators, proof positive
that others regard our system with approval. Yet nowhere do we meet with
such health and prosperity as in our country, for man’s political
influence has in all ages proved corruptive and retrogressive. Our
health is perfect, and we know that it is to the beneficent rule of our
women that we owe our strength of mind and body. It would be suicidal on
our part to wish to revert to a state of things which insured us nothing
so much as sickly bodies. For how could we expect to be strong and
healthy as we are if our mothers were reduced to the condition of the
women some of us see when we travel?”
“But do you not find your social masculine disabilities somewhat
irritating?”
“We do not labour under any disabilities of importance that I know of.
We are not eligible for Political Office, but many men hold important
and lucrative posts under Government, in which our administrative
talents are given fairplay and in all other respects the educational,
social, and elective privileges of the sexes are perfectly equal.”
“I am glad to hear such opinions from you. If you could hear the
croaking that goes on in my country at the mere prospect of women being
allowed to vote, you would wonder at the amount of prejudice and
opposition which your ancestresses overcame.”
“Well, when you get back to your country, you must try to enlighten your
own compatriots.”
“Suppose I were never to find my way back, how do you suppose I should
fare here? Will the Mother soon be tired of entertaining me?”
“Not just yet, I think. But if your stay with us should prove likely to
be permanent, you would yourself most probably desire to make some
arrangement whereby you could secure a provision for old age. You
probably have been trained to a profession of some kind?”
“No, I have not. I was brought up as the majority of young women in my
country are brought up. It was supposed, I expect, that I should settle
down in due course, that is, marry, and that an independent profession
for myself would not be needed.”
“And you say that such folly is the common practice in your country?
That accounts for many of the deplorable things you have told me. How
can women be independent and free, if they have to rely upon others to
keep them? Where is the woman in New Amazonia, do you think, who would
care thus to sacrifice her position of self-reliant independence? Such a
being does not exist, and I think that your women have themselves or
their guardians to thank in great measure for all the disadvantages
under which they labour. It will be rather awkward for you, though, if
you cannot turn your hand to anything.”
“I suppose it would be awkward, if this were so. As it happens, however,
I never gave myself up to an idle life, but gradually drifted into
literature, and I could probably find employment on one of your numerous
journals.”
“Certainly. If you are a graphic writer, you are sure of an appointment.
Such writers are always welcome, and you must have so much to say. You
will not need to cast about long for employment, should it be your lot
to remain with us, and you will be able to earn as much as will make
ample provision for old age when it comes.
“As you are perhaps aware, a small percentage of our earnings is always
appropriated by the State, and a proportionate pension becomes our due
as soon as we wish to claim it. If we claim our pension at the age of
seventy or eighty, it is relatively smaller than if we wait until our
hundredth year or thereabouts. We are usually not in a hurry to place
ourselves upon the pension list, for our active period of labour ceases
then, and this source of income is lost. Still, if we have filled
responsible positions in life, and have been fortunate enough to
accumulate wealth, we can, if we like, hand it all over to the State, in
return for an augmented annuity. My own parents have done this, and are
very happy and comfortable, with not a care in the world.
“There is also another source of profit which we enjoy. New Amazonia is
one huge co-operative establishment, for we are all interested in
promoting its stability and prosperity. There is another condition,
besides being compelled to have reached a certain age, before we can
vote at elections. We must all, women and men, purchase a share in the
country, and we are all very anxious to do so, seeing that these shares
are always at a premium, and command greater returns than any other form
of investment.”
“Surely this is a source of danger to the community. Could not some
people, by purchasing a large number of shares, thus obtain the means of
usurping undue power and influence?”
“Impossible! We are not permitted to hold more than one share
individually. The idea is to make us all of equal station in the eyes of
the law, and to ensure our individual interest in the maintenance of
peace and order. When a State bondholder dies, the equivalent of her or
his bond is divided amongst such legatees as may have been named in the
will.”
“And if there is no will?”
“That never happens, for it is compulsory to make a will immediately
upon becoming a State shareholder. Of course, if we wish the value of
our Bond to revert to the State, we name the State as our legatee, and
we are at liberty to alter our will whenever we please.”
“You seem to have no money here, other than the all-pervading silver
unit. Is this your standard of value in all monetary transactions?”
“Yes; the unit pervades every business transaction, if not practically,
at least theoretically. But it is seldom used to pay large amounts with;
a paper currency serving our purposes much better than metal coinage
would do.”
“Are private banks for business houses allowed to issue paper money?”
“No, none but State coupons are permitted to be issued.”
“Now, just one more question, and then I have finished. I am told that
the State is the ultimate receiver of all manufactured goods, which may
neither be retailed nor exported without first yielding the imposed
percentage. Is it not possible for a group of speculators to force
prices up, either by buying a vast quantity of goods from the
manufacturers, and selling at their own price to the State; or, more
probable, could they not buy in large quantities from the State, and
retail at their own prices to the public?”
“Certainly not. The State would not deal with them. Nor would it permit
any increase of prices not necessitated by the legitimate exigencies of
trade. Speculators of the class to which you allude would find a sorry
field for their operations here.”
I could not complain of the amount of information I had obtained from
John Saville; but I should probably have been still further enlightened
had not our hostess come to claim our attention in different directions.
But before saying farewell for the night, he asked me to visit his
parents on the day following, and promised me a little enlightenment
concerning some domestic arrangements in which I was interested.