ALEA JACTA EST.
The audience had listened attentively. The impressions produced were
different and not altogether favourable. Some faces expressed an
ironical disapprobation, others impatience and weariness. Nevertheless,
after the lecture was over they all hastened to thank the orator with
many compliments. After a while the critics commenced:--
"Fanaticism plays a great part in this historical lecture," remarked
Henri Segel.
"I do not like these legends; they are pure invention," said another.
"All these old persecutions appear improbable today," added a third.
"They can, nevertheless, be renewed with the most frightful details
against us or against other nations," replied Jacob. "Conquerors are
always savage in their vengeance, whether they are called Nero,
Domitian, Trajan, Adrian, or"--
He was interrupted by some one who asked:--
"What, in the nineteenth century?"
"Yes; in our own times. _Utinam simfalsus vates!_ Can I be a false
prophet?"
"But, monsieur," said Muse, "you owe us something more gay, more
agreeable."
"Hebrew literature furnishes certainly agreeable and amusing stories,
but the choice is difficult."
Jacob turned some pages of the Talmud.
"The Rabbi Gamaliel, who was put to death by Rufus in the same manner
as Akiba, related one day to a pagan prince the creation of woman in
Genesis.
"'If that is true,' said the prince, 'your God acts like a malefactor,
robbing a rib from Adam during his sleep.'
"The younger daughter of Gamaliel heard of the conversation.
"'Permit me, father, to reply,' said she.
"The rabbi consented, and she approached the prince supplicatingly.
"'My lord,' said she, 'I come to demand justice.'
"'What has happened?'
"'A robbery has been committed in our house: a thief entered the house
in the night and stole a silver cup, leaving in its place a golden
one.'
"'What an honest thief! Would to Heaven we had more like him!' cried
the prince.
"'Very well, then, my lord. Our God is a malefactor of the same stamp.
He took from Adam a part of his body, and gave him the beautiful Eve in
exchange.'
"'The comparison is ingenious; but your God had better have acted in a
frank and open manner. Why should he have employed clandestine means?'
"The young girl said in reply:--
"'Will you permit me to bring here a piece of raw meat?'
"'Certainly.'
"As soon as she had the meat the daughter of Gamaliel went to the fire,
cut it, and prepared it in the presence of the astonished prince, and
when it was cooked, invited him to eat.
"'My child, I know it is well cooked, but to have seen it done in
detail takes away my appetite.'
"'Behold why God did not wish Adam to assist at the preparation of his
wife. Perhaps he also would not have wished to possess her.'
"The Talmud," continued Jacob, "explains why God did not take the woman
from the eyes, nor the mouth, nor the arms."
"Suspend the conversation and conceal the Talmud. I hear knocks at the
door," said Henri.
"Why should I do that?"
"Perhaps it is a stranger; it is not desirable that he should surprise
us in full Judaism."
"Should we, then, be ashamed of our part?" said Jacob sadly.
Kruder, who had left the room, entered, pale and agitated.
"What is it?" asked Bartold.
"While you have been so quiet here there has been a massacre. The
military have surprised a political meeting, and it is said that many
were killed and wounded."
"Let us go!" cried Jacob. "Let us go where the blood flows, and where
victims are demanded. We should be found there;" and he seized his hat,
but Bartold withheld him.
"Wait," said he; "this is but the prologue of the drama. It is evident
that we should not hold ourselves aloof, there I agree with you; but we
must not act in an imprudent manner. The thing is probably over for
to-day. I propose that we consult together as to what is best to do."
"Where, where?" came from all sides.
"At Mann's. We can do nothing without him."
"When?"
"To-morrow morning."
Kruder threw himself in a chair. "_Alea jacta est_," said he. "Unhappy
Poland!"
The tragedy occurred on the street, at a time when the nobles had
arrived from all parts of the kingdom, for a general reunion of the
Agricultural Society. No one had foreseen the sinister event, no one
wished for it; but an invisible hand seemed to precipitate it.
After he left Bartold's, Jacob could not resist the temptation to visit
the scene of the catastrophe. A lugubrious silence reigned there.
Noiseless pedestrians hurriedly regained their homes, gliding silently
through the misty shadows. Here and there a sentinel was stationed. On
the grave faces of the soldiers he believed that he could read the
struggle between military honour and human duty.
Near the Hotel Europe Jacob met a group of nobles who came out of the
governmental palace; they were excited, and conversed in low voices. As
he passed on, by the door of the hotel, some one seized his hand, and
he recognized Gromof, the companion of Lucie Coloni. Taking his arm,
Gromof drew him into the house, and made him mount several pairs of
stairs without saying a word.
They entered the apartment of the Italian lady, and found her seated on
a couch. She looked at Gromof and left the room; alone with Jacob, the
Russian said:--
"You are young, monsieur, and you cannot be altogether indifferent to
that which is happening; you ought to know everything about it."
"Of what?"
"Of the intended revolution."
"I know absolutely nothing, I assure you."
"Do you take me for a spy, an informer?" asked Gromof.
"Be cool and wise, my friend. I have scarcely returned to my home. I am
a Jew, and, if you will recall it, in the depths of my soul an enemy to
all revolution."
"And why are you opposed to revolutions?"
"Because they lead to nothing, they are convulsive maladies, they
retard the normal march of progress, and their cruel repressions push
the people to despair. I think that there are means more efficacious
than rebellions; but this discussion will lead us too far. I am not a
revolutionist, I repeat to you; but if this country, which is the land
of my choice, needs my blood and my life, I will give them willingly. I
will go with the others."
"You are a man of good faith. It is enough to see you and to hear you
to be convinced of it. I will then be as frank with you as I can,
without betraying the secrets of others. I am a revolutionist myself by
principle, for I am a Russian. My neck bears the mark of an iron
collar; on my arms are imprints made by chains; the stigma of slavery
is engraved on my thoughts, on my conscience, and on my words. I am
ready to sacrifice myself to overthrow the world, to shed torrents of
blood, at any cost to deliver my country from intellectual servitude,
from moral degradation, from a maternal slavery which makes me blush to
call myself a Russian in the eyes of the world. With us a revolution is
a necessity. Otherwise we shall never gain the rights of men; but in
this uprising we must be united. Wait until we give the signal; then
march united; if you engage in this combat against despotism alone, you
will compromise both your future and ours. Use, I entreat you, all your
influence to stop this absurd, tempestuous, and premature outbreak.
Russia will remain chained for a century yet, if your foolish
precipitation is not abated. If you rebel now, you will only be playing
into their hands; it is the very thing they want you to do; as in 1812,
they will appeal to the patriotism of the masses, and set them upon you
like wild beasts after their prey. An infamous bureaucracy will wallow
in the blood of vanquished Poland; oppressed and down-trodden, she will
find it difficult to rise again. There will be persecutions, murders,
and exile of hundreds at a time to Siberia. That is what awaits you if
you do not take my warning."
"Have you talked with any of our young men?"
"Yes; with some of the military; but scarcely had I opened my mouth
when they took me for an agent of the third section, and would not
listen to me. And yet, if these madmen would only remain quiet two or
three years, we Russian revolutionists would have time to work through
the army and to instil in all hearts a desire for freedom, to turn the
emancipation of the serfs made for the profit of the government against
this same government, and to spread from the shores of the Neva the cry
of freedom for Russia as well as for Poland. It is certain to come some
day; but your headstrong Poles will retard it if they do not listen to
reason. Could you not arrange for me to meet some of the leaders of the
agitation?"
"Truly, I do not know them. A youth who has more enthusiasm than good
sense appears to be the leader in this movement."
"This youth is only an instrument, I think," said the Russian. "Where
are the serious men, the earnest ones?"
"I do not believe there are any."
"Young men are active in war, but need old men in counsel. How came the
country to be abandoned to such authority? You are mocking me, no
doubt. You do not trust me. You will not speak."
"If I had had suspicions, they might have been justified, for I hardly
know you; but I give you my word of honour that I do not belong to any
such conspiracy, nor to any secret society. I am ready, however, to
give my life when the hour of the supreme holocaust arrives."
"I believe you; but your heroism is inconceivable. To be willing to die
with those who do not confide in you is strange."
"It is not so strange, and it is not heroism. It will only be the
accomplishment of my duty, and a proof that there are some Jews who
deserve a country, and that some of us love Poland."
"Will you save her by your devotion?"
"No. And we ourselves will perish; but we shall have contracted an
alliance of blood with this country."
"All that is very fine and very poetic, but politics require something
else; they do not rely on sentimental pity. By her reiterated heroisms,
Poland has weakened herself and perishes. Calculation, opportunity, and
stratagem may save her. Why does she not seek to make allies of her own
oppressors, when nothing could be easier? Why has she given up her
place in the government of Russia to the Germans? Why has she not
sought to take up all governmental interests, to endear herself to us,
and to communicate to us her liberalism, her brilliant civilization?
Why has she not been more politic? She has furnished us only some
nobles with great names but without worth, lackeys in court dress; but
men of real importance, not one. They have all kept aloof. In one
century, since the first partition of your country, what has been your
influence? The Poles are much more enlightened than the Russians; could
you not have been benefactors? In a century so little has been done.
You have dissipated the years in frivolity, and each generation has
thrown itself entirely unprepared into a revolution, always cruelly
repressed, the result of which was exile and oppression. Wives have
left their luxurious homes and accompanied their husbands to Siberia.
You have harangued, written, and revealed to the Russian government
your own weakness, so that they know how to strike and how you will
take the blow. The Poles have the chivalrous instinct too fully
developed; you do not dissemble enough. My word for it, you must meet
intrigue with intrigue. If you do not, you will perish utterly, and you
will have deserved it by your candour."
"A generation will perish, perhaps," said Jacob, "but not Poland. Under
Russian oppression, under the knout and the gallows, she will learn to
be more serious, more persevering, and more wise. The cowardly will be
terrorized, but they will be the exception."
"Do you know what your spiritual writer, Rzewuski, said to a Russian
general?"
"No; I have not heard it."
"'I have a wonderful way of discovering the honesty of a Russian and
the good sense of a Pole.'
"'What is the way?' asked the general.
"'It is only to look in the palm of the hand to see if there are any
hairs there.'"
"That is true," said Gromof. "The Poles lack good sense and we lack
honesty. From the time of Ivan the Terrible we have been taught to lie,
to steal, and to kill for the public good. Such teachings for three
generations have naturally borne their fruit. As for the Poles, after
experiencing such misfortunes by their precipitation, they should have
acquired common-sense and judgment; but they have not, I regret to
say."
"What do you wish of me, monsieur?" said Jacob.
"I wish you to try and quell the passions of your youthful
revolutionists. Pray, supplicate, admonish, and entreat them to wait;
in the name of Heaven, to wait; and if you think your influence is not
great enough, introduce me to a leader, a chief."
"One word, monsieur," said Jacob. "How can I be sure that you are
worthy of confidence; you are a Russian; what proofs can you give of
being worthy of our confidence?"
"I assure you I merit your whole confidence," cried Gromof, "and I will
give proofs in writing and on my own body. I will show on my back
ridges left there by the knout, and on my arms the mark of chains. But,
no! no! they do not wish to believe me. Unhappy Poland will fail to
secure liberty, for her a forbidden fruit! The throne of the Czar will
be strengthened by those who thought to overthrow it. The court will
continue to suck the people's blood. Oh, what a satanic laugh does your
idiotic revolution provoke in me! I will be among the first to prey on
you, to avenge myself for my destroyed hopes. Yes, I will go to see you
all hung with pleasure, for you will have ruined our future."
"Be calm," said Jacob; "we have not yet commenced a revolution, and
perhaps it may be averted. These youth are only a handful; they may yet
be suppressed."
"No; if young men are at the head, neither themselves nor any one else
can hold them back. They will go to any length. Youth and the mob are
two inflammable elements. The sacrifice will be accomplished. There
will be a heap of corpses, and the bureaucracy will make merry with
their samovars and their brandy on the battle-field. I see your future:
the country ravaged, villages depopulated, cities pillaged, chained
galley slaves marching towards Siberia, bloody executions, an
insatiable vengeance, and everywhere ruins and ashes. That will be your
fate for having retarded Russian liberty by your premature revolution."
"Do not be so excited, I pray you."
"Not be excited! That is easy to say. Have you suffered as I have? Do
you know what exile is? Do you know anything about penal labour? I was
condemned to it for life, but I escaped. Such labour is very hard, but
exile is even more intolerable."
After a short silence Gromof continued:--
"Braving all personal danger, I come here to prevent, if possible, a
fatal precipitation; but I fear it is too late."
"But," said Jacob, "how can they commence a revolution without arms,
without money, without leaders or soldiers?"
"Your crazy youth would go to battle with sticks and staves. The
government, to encourage them, or rather to lead them into the snare of
their own destruction, have permitted the underhand introduction of a
small quantity of arms; they have been allowed to amass a little money,
and the government has seemed to have its eyes shut to a movement that
it has really instigated. Afterward they can repress it when they
desire. In the eyes of Europe, the first aggression will be on your
side. Your folly will have been heroic, but will only obtain a barren
sympathy. Europe will authorize by her silence the horrible cruelties
which Poland will again endure, and despotism, by this crafty political
stroke, will be reinforced for a long time."
Jacob did not reply, and Gromof grew warmer and warmer, when Lucie
Coloni came out of the next room, and, putting her hand on his brow,
said in a caressing tone:--
"Serge, calm yourself, or you will be ill."
"It will kill me!" said Gromof, hanging his head for a moment, then
raising it he cried furiously:--
"Bad luck to you! Bad luck to you, if our project is ruined by you
foolish Poles!"
Jacob drew out his watch; the situation was unpleasant and he did not
know what to do, what to say. The Russian looked at him reproachfully
as if he had thrown cold water on his hopes; he seated himself again,
and instead of acting like one possessed, Gromof suddenly became
pleasant and agreeable.
"Pardon me, Monsieur Jacob," said he, "for having revealed to you the
sufferings of my inmost heart. Savage blood flows in my veins, which is
repressed only by civilization. All my countrymen are the same; we
Russians are savages at heart, but you know now what I want of you or
any other person who has political influence in the present crisis."
They parted, and Jacob passing safely by the guards regained his
dwelling.