The _Times_ of September 26th, 1883, remarks, concerning the scene which
I am about to describe: “There is a curious old-world look in a telegram
which we publish this morning from Geneva, relating how a citizen of
that Canton has braved the authorities in vindicating the principle of
religious liberty.”
M. Audeoud, one of those citizens of Geneva who hold fast all the good
traditions of liberty and of justice, has played a prominent part in the
late conflict, and will probably continue to do so; for the present
history of the events I have been describing must close shortly after
his challenge has been given to the illegal decrees of the Geneva
Government, and before the record can reach us of the succeeding acts of
the drama which will have to be played out. On Sunday, 23rd September, a
large meeting of Salvationists and others was held in the house of M.
Audeoud, who has a country residence about two miles from Geneva, with
extensive wooded grounds. A report had been current during the previous
week that such a meeting would take place; it had, indeed, been
announced at several private meetings of the Salutistes. The police in
consequence made their plans. At half-past two in the afternoon a number
of Salutistes were seen gathering in the grounds at Conches, or pursuing
the road from Florissant in that direction. There were many young men
among them, most of them having the “S.” on their collars. The
drawing-room and dining-room on the ground floor of M. Audeoud’s house
were occupied by this assembly, which, however, afterward became so
numerous as to form an audience also in the grounds immediately around
the house.
The proceedings had scarcely begun when the Mayor of Chêne Bougeries, M.
Aubert (the same who had arrested the Salutistes at the cemetery, at the
funeral of Wyssa), arrived with a company of his agents at the house of
M. Audeoud. The latter, with his wife, Mme. Audeoud, were in the
drawing-room. The Mayor presented himself, and explained to the master
of the house the motive of his visit, demanding, in a judicial manner,
that the meeting should be dissolved. M. Audeoud persisted in declaring
his intention to show hospitality to the members of the Salvation Army.
A long discussion ensued. M. Audeoud then opened the Penal Code, which
he held in his hand, and read before the Mayor and his attendants
several of the articles concerning religious liberty and freedom of
meeting. The only reply which the Mayor made was to open and display a
placard, bearing the decree of the Council of State, of the 2nd February
of the same year, forbidding the Salutistes’ meetings. He then asked M.
Audeoud if this was a public meeting, and received the following
reply:—“I shall admit to this meeting all who present themselves with a
proper motive, while I maintain my right to dismiss from this meeting
all who come with the purpose of disturbing our proceedings.” Upon this,
the Mayor and his companions retired. During the hour which followed the
attendance increased greatly, and now numbered about three hundred
persons. At three o’clock, while they were on their knees in prayer,
hasty footsteps were again heard upon the gravel walk outside; the Mayor
and his attendant again presented themselves, accompanied by three
gendarmes, an agent of the rural police, and an agent _de la Sûreté_.
M. Audeoud now stood surrounded by several friends, prominent citizens
of Geneva, MM. Alfred and Edmund Pictet, jurists, M. Lenoir, banker, &c.
The Salvationists did not cease their singing, but continued the joyous
chorus of one of their hymns—
“_Les Salutistes sont toujours en fête._”
The Mayor again addressed M. Audeoud, and said: “M. Audeoud, you are
aware why I have come here. I have already told you my object an hour
ago. I come to dissolve this meeting.” In a voice much more calm, and
quite as firm, M. Audeoud replied: “Sir, in the name of the three
following rights, I forbid you to dissolve this meeting: The right of
freedom of assembly; of liberty of worship; and of the inviolability of
domicile.” Standing before that large and quiet concourse of people,
animated by one steady principle and fixed purpose, M. Audeoud, taking
off his hat in token of respect for the law, again opened the Penal
Code, and slowly and clearly read out to the magisterial and police
forces before him as follows: “Article 108 of the Penal Code. Every
magistrate, administrative or judiciary, or agent, or officer of justice
or of police, every agent of the public police force who, acting in his
official character, shall enter the house of any citizen against the
will of him who occupies it, except in cases clearly defined by the law,
and without all the formalities prescribed by the law, shall be punished
by imprisonment of from eight days to six months, and by a fine of from
thirty to three hundred francs.” He also read Article 107: “Whosoever by
threats or violence shall in any way attack the freedom of worship and
freedom of teaching or the liberty of the press or of meeting, shall be
punished with the same penalty.” “Therefore,” said M. Audeoud, looking
at the Mayor, “I request you to retire.”
The Mayor then read aloud the decree of the Council of State of the 2nd
February, which suspended the exercises of the Salvation Army, adding:
“In pursuance of this decree I must dissolve this meeting, which is a
public meeting as you yourself have allowed.”
M. Audeoud: “Pardon me, I did not allow that. I am free to admit to my
house all persons who wish to take part in this meeting, but I reserve
the right of refusing entrance to the meeting to those who come here
with the manifest intention of interrupting it.”
The Marshall attending the Mayor: “This a public meeting.”
M. Audeoud: “I forbid you to go a step further!” So saying, M. Audeoud
placed himself resolutely in front of the Mayor to prevent his further
entrance, and added, “I call these gentlemen around to witness. I have a
legal case against you.”
The Mayor: “Under these circumstances I will force my way in.”
M. Audeoud: “You mean to push me aside?”
A policeman: “Yes, we shall force an entrance.”
M. Audeoud: “Then you will have to walk over my person.”
The Mayor, who had taken off his scarf, his badge of office, waved it so
as to display it to the citizens assembled, and said “With this can I
not pass?”
At this moment Madame Audeoud came to the side of her husband, the
brothers Pictet and M. Lenoir being also around him, filling the
entrance. The Mayor, however, pushed his way through the group, followed
by his chief agent, and made an attempt to approach the door of the
salon whence the sounds of prayer were proceeding. M. Audeoud and his
wife, however, slipped past them and reached the door before them,
stationing themselves upon the threshold. M. Audeoud said in a loud
voice, “You will not proceed a step further; I am master of my own
house!”
The Mayor confronting M. Audeoud shouted with a loud voice which could
be heard by all present: “In the name of the decree of the Council of
State I declare this meeting dissolved.”
It was a remarkable scene. At the moment when the Mayor with agitated
countenance called out these words looking over the shoulder of M.
Audeoud, the assembled worshippers, led by a young man of Neuchâtel,
were singing one of the Salutiste’s hymns:—
“_Les Salutistes sont toujours vainqueurs._”
Their voices sounded in joyous and harmonious accord, contrasting
strangely with the harsh, troubled tones of the Mayor. Several could be
heard praying aloud, asking the presence of God in the midst of this
strange scene, and expressing confidence in Him.
When the Mayor had made his proclamation sufficiently heard, M. Audeoud
replied firmly: “I resist your authority” and then the whole police
force retired. Some of those present believed they heard the Mayor say
to the agents as they left the garden, “We are not sufficiently
numerous, we must return in force.”
In dealing with this strange scene the _Times_ again remarks:—
“The Mayor, who entered that gentleman’s house, seems to have been
disconcerted when M. Audeoud told him that he was liable to be sued in
damages for having violated the domicile of a Swiss citizen; and the
scene was rendered additionally impressive by M. Audeoud removing his
hat in token of respect for the law, as he read the articles of the
Constitution which guarantee to every citizen liberty of conscience.
Geneva is the last place in which one could have expected to hear of
such an episode as this; and it must be hoped that now the question of
religious liberty has been mooted, the Swiss will seriously reconsider
the position which they have taken up as regards the Salvationists.”
The Mayor having retired, the meeting continued as if nothing
extraordinary had happened. Until half-past five in the evening there
was a succession of addresses, testimonies, prayers and hymns. Great
calmness and a feeling of confidence prevailed. Not one word was heard
against the public authorities. On the contrary, in their prayers
petitions were addressed to God for a blessing upon the police, the
Council of State, the Mayor, &c.
The only consequence which immediately followed was a proclamation
against M. Audeoud for non-compliance with the decree of 2nd February.
During a former meeting at his own house, M. Audeoud discovered a member
of the police force lying upon the ground behind a tree in a copse, at a
point from which he could watch the house and all who approached it.
When discovered he pretended to awake out of a heavy sleep, but M.
Audeoud recognised him, and seeing that, the spy ran off, scrambling
rather ignominiously through a hedge, and joined the rest of the “armed
force,” who were waiting outside the grounds, ready to come down upon
any meeting suspected of containing Salutistes.
The Evangelical Alliance of Switzerland having been awakened, though
somewhat tardily, to the full significance of the attacks made in
Switzerland on religious liberty, addressed an appeal to the Swiss
people, from which the following are extracts:—
“DEAR FELLOW-CITIZENS,—For some time past events have been passing in
Switzerland which we cannot but regard with much regret. Religious
meetings have been violently disturbed. Those who attended them,
sometimes defenceless women, have been the butt of insults and even of
personal assaults. Private houses, the refuge of every citizen, have
not always been respected. The occasion of all these outbreaks of
violence has been, as all are aware, the arrival of the Salvation Army
in Switzerland. We can understand that its methods of action displease
some, but this is no justification whatever of persecution in a free
country which glories in its liberty. We are convinced that the great
majority of the Swiss people deprecate persecution as only worthy of
an age of gross ignorance and brutality. It is with confidence
therefore that we address you, free citizens, counselling you to hold
firmly the religious liberty which the Federal Council has so
distinctly guaranteed. Claim it for yourselves, claim it for
foreigners, claim it for all.... Has not our country been a refuge
where those persecuted for their religion or for their politics have
found safety? Have we not opened our doors to thousands of fugitives?
Let us recall our past history. It is because our fathers have so
freely opened their doors to fugitives to our land, that Switzerland
has received the blessing of God, and the esteem and gratitude of
other nations.... Many times already the Evangelical Alliance, whom we
have the honour to represent, has raised its voice in favour of
religious liberty. In Spain, in Italy, in Sweden, in Russia, in
Bohemia, &c., it has intervened in favour of unprotected men
persecuted for their religious convictions. It cannot, therefore, be
silent when in Switzerland itself religious liberty is threatened. It
does not, however, desire to instigate the general intervention of
this vast association; but we esteem it is the imperious duty of the
Swiss Branch of the Alliance to protest solemnly against this
violation of the most sacred rights; and that which binds us to such a
course of action is not only the obligation imposed on every free
citizen to watch with jealous care that no one lays hands on his
liberty, but it is still more the higher law, which is binding on
every Christian, that law of grace and love which Jesus Christ came to
bring into the world, and for which he shed his blood on the cross. We
earnestly deprecate, therefore, all violence, and every attempt to
extinguish by brute force the liberty of those who think differently
from ourselves. We may strive against error, but only with a spiritual
arm. We must respect all religious convictions so long as they do not
offend against morality or the law.
“Freedom of conscience is one of the noblest acquirements of
civilization, and the nation which allows it to be curtailed is in the
position of seeming to doubt the power of truth. Let us arouse
ourselves to the work as fellow citizens; let us unite our efforts in
order that in every part of Switzerland religious liberty shall be
respected and enjoyed by all and for all without distinction.
“May God continue to protect our beloved country, and preserve to us
the most precious of gifts—justice and liberty.
“Signed for the Swiss branch of the Evangelical Alliance.”
According to the usual custom, the authors of this appeal prepared to
placard it in the conspicuous places used for advertisements, having
only to go through the formality of giving notice of the same to the
Department of Police. To their great astonishment they received from M.
Héridier the following message forbidding them to publish their appeal:
“You attack us in it. The public pillars (advertising stations) are
ours; we cannot grant them to you in order to attack us.”
About the same date the following petition was addressed to the Council
of State of the Canton of Geneva:—
“We, the undersigned, all Genevese or citizens of other Swiss Cantons,
electors, and domiciled in the Canton of Geneva, come before you
respectfully to submit the following:
“Possessed of our right to the free exercise of our judgment, ... we
have become members or adherents of the Salvation Army, whose doctrine
and practices have appeared to us conformable to the truth, and
responding to the aspirations of our souls. We possess, consequently,
the right of following their methods of worship, and of uniting
ourselves together toward this end, without being hindered by any
restriction beyond that which can be legally imposed on the exterior
exercises of our worship. The State owes us not only tolerance, but
protection. This obligation is formally expressed in our
Constitutional Law of the 26th August, 1868, Article 2.
“Individual liberty is guaranteed to us as it is to all other citizens
by Article 2 of the Constitution, and that liberty has always been
considered amongst us to carry with it the right of association, and
consequently of meeting.
“All Genevese are equal before the law, as proclaimed by Article 2 of
our Constitution. We come to claim this equality in practice, and we
refuse to admit that the right of meeting and of association, for
every kind of object which is not illegal, can be limited in what
specially concerns ourselves.
“Since the time when we began to follow the religious assemblies of
the Salvation Army up to the present moment, we have been disturbed,
and hunted from place to place, by enemies whom we need not specify,
and even by the agents of authority themselves. Such a fact can only
arise from a false application of your decree of the 2nd February
last. It is impossible that this decree could take upon itself to
deprive citizens of their constitutional rights; nevertheless, since
that time we are not allowed to unite, are constantly disturbed, and
our constitutional rights violated in the most serious manner.
“Under these circumstances, we, the free citizens of a free country,
address ourselves to the Government of our country. We now have
recourse to you gentlemen, praying you publicly to recognise that we
ought not to be deprived of the rights guaranteed to every citizen,
and in consequence to take such measures as may be needful in order to
assure to us the free exercise of these rights, and in particular to
cause to be removed every prohibition against uniting to worship
together, and for that end to make use of buildings and places which
may appertain to us or be placed at our disposal.
“Whatever you do, do justice.
“Geneva, 4th October, 1882.”
(Here follows a long list of signatures of citizens of Geneva.)
Many persons of Geneva and other parts of Switzerland had waited in
anxious suspense for the reply of the Genevese Government to this
appeal, and also for its appreciation of the address of the Evangelical
Alliance.
The _Journal de Genève_ remarked:—“If we may judge by the past, the
Government will give no reply whatever, and the petitioners will be
forced to carry their appeal to the Federal Tribunal. The right of
meeting is now in Geneva nothing more than a favour to be accorded on
the permission of M. Héridier, if it pleases him to grant it, as was
done in France under the Second Empire.”
The same journal, of a later date, speaks of certain ideas opposed to
Constitutional principles, borrowed from Imperial France by M. Héridier,
which are gradually accumulating in Switzerland. “The protest of the
Evangelical Alliance,” it goes on to say, “is drawn up with great
firmness, but also with great moderation, and contains not a single word
which could be taken exception to. It is purely defensive; the
Governments of Geneva and Neuchâtel are not even mentioned by name. It
is simply a question of principles, and an appeal to citizens to uphold
those principles.”... “The authors of the appeal of the Evangelical
Alliance never doubted for a moment that they would be able, according
to custom, to placard their bills on the walls. To their extreme
astonishment, the Chief of the Department, after having perused the
document, refused the authorization desired; and yet this was not the
case of an anonymous placard, but one bearing some of the best known and
most honourable names of the City of Geneva, among whom M. Héridier
might have observed that of a member of the National Council. It
contained nothing insulting, no attack on any one at home or abroad,
nothing whatever to cause its suppression in this manner, M. Héridier,
however, gave as his reason for its quasi-suppression, ‘You attack us in
it, and as the public advertising stations _belong to us_, we do not
permit you to make use of them in order to attack us.’”...
“‘The public advertising stations belong to us!’ says M. Héridier. Who,
then, is this ‘us’ who take upon themselves to monopolise in their own
interests the walls of houses which abut on the streets by calling them
public advertising stations? Is it the Council of State, the police, or
the entire _radicale autoritaire_ party which so acts? Is it not simply
M. Héridier himself?”... “The right to discuss the public acts of the
Government by means of placards has been long enjoyed by the citizens of
Geneva. The only right the police has to suppress such is when they
contain slanders against private persons, or threats of public
disturbance or violence; but never in any other case has this right of
public criticism been denied. This, then, is a fresh step in the
downward path of arbitrary Government.” “We are now at the summit (says
another Geneva paper) of this frightful edifice in the law of terrorism,
which calls upon the tribunals to punish those who desire to be a little
more free than it suits his Majesty M. Héridier to allow them to be.
Certainly there is in all this a grotesque side which might excite
laughter; but it is we who have to pay the price of this hilarity, we
who have to submit to the humiliation of being ruled over by a chief of
police who does not even understand his own business. It is too grave a
matter for laughter.”[38]
Evidence has been given in the course of this narrative of the revived
faith and zeal of many individuals and of some of the churches of French
Switzerland during these troubled times. M. Vernier, a French pastor,
visited Neuchâtel subsequently to the division which took place in the
_Eglise Libre_, in the Place d’Armes, and on the invitation of members
of that Church, filled for a time the place of the minister who had
resigned his office as its pastor. M. Vernier wrote the following from
Neuchâtel to a friend in Drôme, the Editor of _La Chambre Haute_:—
“DEAR BROTHER,—A letter in your last number depicts the future of the
evangelisation of our dear Drôme in rather dark colours. It seems to
your correspondent that the work of revival would be compromised, if not
entirely ruined, by the appearance among us of the Salvation Army. Allow
me to express here an entirely different opinion. I have been present in
several religious revivals in Switzerland, but none has seemed to me
more thorough and more likely to be durable than the revival which we
now see. Three precious elements are prominent in it—the joy of pardon,
an ardent thirst for holiness and constant communion with Christ, and a
fervent desire to bring perishing souls to Him. I wish you could have
been present when more than two hundred Christians of our neighbourhood
were re-baptized by the Holy Spirit, their faces illuminated by the Sun
of Righteousness, their hearts filled with love to God and man. It would
have shown you that we have no reason to give way to fears and
discouragements; but on the contrary, that we have a thousand reasons to
praise God. From my heart I pity those who cannot see in the present
movement an accomplishment of the prophesy of Joel, which we are told
will be fulfilled in the last days. Our theologians may dispute other
texts of the Word of God, but it is impossible for them to annihilate
this. This promise is now being realised, and we ourselves are witnesses
of it. And this is just the moment, unhappily, when several amongst us
who are regarded as servants of God have chosen to protest, in season
and out of season, against the ministry of women, discouraging to some
extent the zeal of God’s servants, and alienating the sympathies of
others who might have gone forward in their ranks. In my humble opinion
it is neither the work of revival nor of evangelisation which is
imperilled—for the Lord has given the word, and great is now the company
of the preachers—but that which I think are imperilled are our
organisations, our forms, our official rules. The Church of God, that
company of faithful people, has never had before it so glorious a
future. The true Church does not shut its doors to the servants and
handmaids of the Lord, nor command silence to the children who shout
Hosannas. On the contrary, it says, ‘Come, ye blessed of the Lord of
Hosts, let us rejoice together, for our Redeemer cometh to judge the
earth, and to be glorified in his saints.’”[39]
In order justly to appreciate the present condition of Switzerland, and
the difficulties which the Constitutional party there may have to
encounter in the future, we must look a little below the surface of the
social life of that country. An intelligent inhabitant of Eastern
Switzerland said to me last summer, “the old Swiss stock is dying out,
or rather it is being thrust out by the perpetual and increasing influx
of foreigners pressing in on every side. What is happening to us is in
fact what happens when a country is overrun by an invading and
conquering army, the process only being much slower. We are being
invaded and gradually superceded by an army of foreigners perpetually
immigrating towards this centre. The old traditions are passing away;
the old stock is less pure, or dying out, and if it continues in this
way we shall soon have no nationality of our own.” At Basle the railway
station is periodically crowded with Germans entering Switzerland. Many
Germans leave home through their dislike of the conscription, and on
account of the present poverty-stricken state of a portion of the
population resulting from the dominant influence of the military spirit
since the Franco-German war, an influence opposed to industrial
prosperity and to liberty. From the southern side of the Alps there
continues to arrive an unceasing stream of indigent Italians, who form a
considerable proportion of the working class in the departments of
terrace and bridge builders, road repairers, etc. France, Alsace,
Bavaria, and Austrian Hungary contribute also their stragglers, for the
most part leaving their country from reasons of discontent, ill-success,
or even worse. A calculation has been made with regard to the Canton of
Neuchâtel which shows that if the present inundation of foreigners
continues for seven years longer at the rate at which it is at present
going on, the result will be that in the year 1890, only one-third of
the whole population will be natives of the Canton. This state of things
must enlist our sympathy and respect for that band of true Swiss leaders
of thought and of action, who see with sorrow the good traditions of
their country passing into oblivion. The men of 1848, trained to a real
strength and nobility of character by the severe discipline of the
troubled times which preceded that epoch, are dying out, and there
remains now little that is homogeneous amongst the people whom we call
Swiss. There is, in fact, little to which to appeal, for those who
desire to train the better instincts of the masses. For such a
conglomeration of international elements, (and by no means always the
best elements of the different nations) there is no national tradition
possible, no common principle of action, no past to point to, and, in
fact, no knowledge for the most part of the great principles which
formerly inspired and guided the men who made the country what it was.
It is a problem of great difficulty, and not without danger, which the
present generation of the true Swiss have to solve.
That Switzerland has been for some years past socially and politically
sick, to a dangerous degree, has been well-known to those who have
watched carefully the signs of the times. What is the meaning of the
fact of the frequent suicides, the record of which has startled us in
recent years, amongst those called to offices of responsibility? Does it
arise from a sense of their own unworthiness to fill such offices, or of
a certain despair in encountering the conflict which conscience tells
them is approaching for those called to judge and act publicly in
accordance with principles which have been secretly violated in their
own inner being and life? Or does it point to a loss of moral faith, of
hope, of the sense of human dignity; or perhaps sometimes to a secret
and unconquerable feeling of disgust and disappointment in having missed
the true aim of life? It is scarcely two years since we heard of the
suicide of M. Anderegg, the elect of the people, called to fill the
highest place in the Republic—that of President of the Confederation. It
was on the eve of the day of his installation when, walking up and down
the promenade by the side of the Bernerhoff and Federal Palace, he sat
down on a bench, and apparently overcome by some strange and deep
melancholy at the thought of what awaited him on the morrow, or perhaps
by some thought of pain unshared by any human friend or counsellor, he
put a pistol to his head, and blew his brains out. M. Lambelet,
President of the Grand Council of the Canton of Neuchâtel, ended his own
existence by taking poison. M. Vuithier, his successor, and President of
the same Grand Council, a man of wealth and apparently possessing every
outward advantage which the world can bestow, disappeared from his home,
and after a long search his body was found in the deep waters at the
foot of the cascade of the Doubs in the Jura. We recollect, too, Colonel
Ott, National Councillor at Berne—the great engineer—who drowned himself
in the river at la Matte, at Berne.[40]
The Swiss patriot of to-day may thus have serious grounds for sadness or
apprehension in considering the actual state of his country, in the
centre of Europe, as it is, and surrounded by nations, whose
overflowings, so to speak, are continually invading his land. How is
anything like nationality to be preserved? The difficulties of this
subject have urged some of the best men of Switzerland towards the idea
so well enunciated by some of them, that their future hope must lie in
_international action_. Already that country has the honour of having
been the cradle of useful, progressive, international ideas, such as the
Universal postal system, the Croix Rouge, Arbitration, &c. This fact may
indicate perhaps the path of the future. We live in international times.
In England, insularly situated as we are, and of a character still
exclusive, we are less conscious of this than are the inhabitants of
Continental nations. The energy which is wanting to combat the surging
tide of demoralising influences partly derived from other lands, which
is now invading Switzerland, may be evoked by co-operation with those in
other countries who still remain faithful to the highest principles. I
do not here in any sense imply a necessity on the part of the
constitutional and law-loving portion of the Swiss population to have
recourse to external help in the re-establishment of respect for law and
for liberty in their own nation. All that is aimed at is that moral
force derived from a sense of a community of interests of the highest
kind and in the highest degree, among persons of all lands, from the
constant interchange of ideas, from the propagation and popularising in
many languages of true and living thoughts and principles. Principles
are of world-wide application, and those members of the present Cantonal
Governments of Switzerland who have shown themselves so unworthy of
their great traditions of the past, cannot, even if they would, repel
from their soil the steady, silent, irrepressible inroads of the truth,
though they may persecute and expel certain individuals of their own or
other nationalities who have brought home to their consciences the
disagreeable fact of their own degeneracy.
I cannot conclude the present record without an expression of the grief
and dismay with which I have observed, during the past few years, the
decay amongst educated—and unhappily amongst Christian—people, both at
home and abroad, of the sense of justice. I speak of justice pure and
simple, justice in the abstract. The idea of justice in this sense
appears to be a thing past the comprehension of many persons. I may
illustrate what I mean by the following quotation from the _Standard_ of
Feb. 10, 1883. It is a case brought before Lord Granville in a
correspondence which passed between the Foreign Office and Messrs.
Raphael, Tuck and Son, in reference to the expulsion of their
representative from St. Petersburg on the 15th August previously.
“Messrs. Raphael and Tuck ask the favour of a definite reply as to
whether it was in the power of Her Majesty’s Government to secure a
permit for their representative from the Russian Government, such permit
authorising him to prosecute his journey southward _en route_ for the
Bosphorus, or ‘_whether they must abandon all hope of securing for Mr.
Marcuse, a British subject, the protection of Her Majesty’s Government,
because of his profession of a faith, the disqualification attending
which an advanced civilization was supposed to have swept away_.’” We
have here the astounding fact of a man’s religious opinions publicly
suggested as a possible hindrance to the success of his appeal for legal
justice from our Government. I may further illustrate my meaning by
recalling an incident of my stay in Switzerland during the past summer.
In the presence of several jurists and others, who were consulting
together concerning the treatment of the Salvation Army in their
country, one of these gentlemen said, “if England has begun to deal out
legal justice in proportion to her sympathies and antipathies, she has
entered upon the fatal, downward path.” Another gentleman said to me,
with some indignation, “It is very strange to us to see the utter
inaction of your people in England, and of your Government, in the case
of so gross an injustice as Miss Booth has suffered. We suppose that
this is owing to the absence of sympathy for her religious opinions. It
is generally felt here that if it had been Mr. Charles Bradlaugh who had
suffered such an injustice—or, indeed, a much less one—there would have
been no lack of English defenders to come forward on his behalf.” My
reply to this was not, perhaps, such as the speaker expected. “You give
my countrymen too much credit, Sir—(I was obliged, with much regret, to
say). Indeed I do hope that they _would_ have arisen in defence of Mr.
Charles Bradlaugh in any case of his having suffered a legal injustice;
but I fear that a large party would have been as indifferent to any
injustice inflicted on him as at the present a large party is
indifferent to an injustice inflicted on Miss Booth, simply for the
reason that our people in England have, unhappily, begun to slide into
the downward path which has been designated by one of yourselves just
now—that of allowing justice to be dealt forth in proportion to their
sympathies or antipathies, religious, social, or political.” I was
grieved to find that the truth of what I feared had been so quickly
appreciated by those Swiss gentlemen, that England has forgotten to some
extent the sound traditions by which we were taught to apply to all
alike the great principles of justice and of the common law. But, I seem
to hear you say, “Such an one being anti-Christian is the enemy of the
Cross of Christ, and therefore my enemy! ought I to incur trouble and
effort on his behalf in case he were denied justice before the law?” Do
I need to remind you—Christian—of the words; “If thine enemy hunger,
feed him; if he thirst, give him drink?” Perhaps you assent, however, to
that; you would supply his bodily needs, were he in extremities. But
hear again;—“Man does not live by bread alone.” Stronger than all bodily
needs, deeper even than the love of kindred and country, and of freedom
itself, lies buried in the heart of man the _desire for justice_. The
cry for justice is rising on every hand. You must give to your greatest
enemy that which his soul craves.
It is especially disastrous that religious and Christian people should
have allowed this sense of justice to have become enfeebled; for from
them above all others the maintenance of the sternest principles in this
respect should be expected. I do not like to appeal in addressing
Christian people to so low a motive as that of self-interest; yet it is
impossible not to remind them that while through an enfeebled sense of
justice, and the letting go of the principles of legality, they are
allowing wrongs to be inflicted on persons with whose religious opinions
they have no sympathy, (they standing by as indifferent spectators); the
time may come—nay it assuredly will come—when they themselves will be
bereft of the safeguards of justice, in like manner, and on account
perhaps of the very opinions which they hold as Christians; and then
with what force can they appeal to the great idea of abstract justice,
they themselves having cast it under their feet? A lady to whom I had
recited recently some details of the outrages against the great
principles of justice and law which had been perpetrated in Switzerland,
naïvely asked the question: “But had not Miss Booth and her friends done
some things in Switzerland which are contrary to _good taste_—had they
not shown themselves wanting in _tact_ in their mode of procedure?”
Astonishment prevented my replying. I could only say to myself: “Is it
possible that we have come to this, that not only the holding of
religious opinions, or the observance of religious practices from which
we differ, weakens our sense of responsibility towards our fellow-men in
the matter of legality, but that even a want of good taste or of tact is
to be a excuse in our eyes for the relaxation of the great principles of
justice?” Have we forgotten that still in our own country the law, in
theory at least, is so strict, so absolute in its declarations of the
inviolability of the person, and the sacredness of individual liberty,
that if we dared to touch the person of a criminal on his way to
execution or in his prison cell in an insulting or injurious manner, we
should be considered ourselves criminal. The person of the lowest felon
condemned to death is before the law sacred even to the last moment. It
is not for the virtuous nor for the orthodox, nor for those who never
offend against “good taste,” that the common law guarantees its
protection, but for all alike, of whatever character.
To those among us who have studied the history of our own country, the
growth and expansion of its liberties, the various attacks upon those
liberties, and their re-establishment by the sufferings—even unto
death—of those who defended them, the last year’s events in Switzerland
have a great significance. We have had the opportunity of observing the
acting out before our eyes, on a comparatively small national platform,
that which we always knew, from our deep study of those principles, must
occur. So much so, that as one violation of liberty took place, we
could, almost with certainty, prophecy what the next would be, and in
what manner it would come about. We have seen that when the evil
passions of men—in all ages and all countries the primary and intimate
cause of the destruction of liberty—increase and run riot in the
community, political freedom becomes an impossibility. We have seen
surging up from underneath the elements which have brought about the
ruin of peoples, namely, the wide-spread drunkenness, increasing in all
classes of the community, leading to delirium, to the casting off of all
self-restraint, and to every murderous and evil impulse;—moral impurity,
expressing itself in the grossest forms, the repudiation of family ties,
contempt for women, and the acceptance of the public official patronage
of organised prostitution. Arising out of this, also, we see political
corruption in every department, beginning with the miserable necessity
which short-sighted aspirants for office believe themselves to be under,
of relying for success on the votes of the most degraded and brutalised
amongst the people, bribery in its worst forms, and flatteries of the
most disgusting kind interchanged between the vicious and drunken class
and their representatives. We have seen Governments chaining up liberty,
and giving the reins to license. When the conflict for Governmental
offices is surrounded with such a miasma of immoral elements as this, it
is not surprising that the best men, the true Swiss, those who have not
forgotten their past history, should hold back and refuse to enter into
such an arena. From this point, those who understand something of the
great principles now at war, will watch, with deep anxiety, the efforts
made by those persons who constitute the leaven to keep their country
from corruption. There is a saying that “unfinished questions have no
mercy for the peace of nations.” Swiss citizens are in the presence of a
great unfinished question at the present time. Every principle dear to a
free people has been violated in their midst. These principles will
avenge themselves sooner or later, but through whom, and by what means?
There can be no peace in Switzerland while these “unfinished questions”
are allowed simply to lapse. They must be fought out to the end.
What is our hope? It is in the revival among the masses of the people of
the fear of God, of the belief in the vital truths of Christianity, and
of those habits of virtue and self-restraint which grow up as the
inevitable fruits of the Spirit of God, in those who are enlightened by
it. We have heard it remarked: “It is not surprising to hear of such
things happening in Switzerland. Democracy will, of course, always
produce such results.” Such judgments are exceedingly childish. He must
be a very poor historian or observer of men and principles, who can
attribute to the _outward forms_ of government alone all the complicated
movements which we see among the mass of men in all lands, the suffering
and restlessness, and the rebellion, more or less repressed now, but
which is preparing for a future manifestation. The greatest instance in
modern history—perhaps in the world’s history—of the horrors of mob
rule, the French Revolution, was not the natural outcome of Democracy.
The Reign of Terror followed swiftly upon centuries of monarchical rule,
aristocratic privileges and the suppression of popular liberties? In
Germany and in Russia the same fierce elements are at work;—the same
dissatisfaction, the same rebellion against the religion of those who
monopolise all earthly advantages. These elements are only restrained
for the present by the heavy hand of Imperial power. The inward
transforming influence which alone can truly restrain, is wanting. It is
only a question of time. The longer these elements—call them what you
will, Socialism, Nihilism, &c., are violently held in check, without the
application of the true remedy, the greater and more terrible will be
their ultimate expression. The outward repression having been slight in
Switzerland, the overflowings of the evil have come early, and have been
more rapid and evident. But under every form of Government there are,
more or less, the same elements at work. The only true solution of the
problem is to be found in the revival of the true life of the immortal
beings who compose this volcanic substratum of humanity. If this
judgment of the case is true, in how grave and awful a light must appear
the deliberate rejection of influences which tend towards the revival of
that spiritual life. The Gadarenes prayed our Lord to depart out of
their coasts; Jerusalem would have none of Him; and speedy and swift was
the vengeance which fell on those nations who judged themselves unworthy
to receive the message of eternal life.
But we hope better things for Switzerland. The following testimony is
borne by a correspondent of “Evangelical Christendom” (Nov. 1):—“The
appearance of the Salvation Army in Switzerland has brought out the
hidden, or smouldering enmity against vital, vivid Christianity as
strongly as did Vinet and the Free Church movement in 1845–7, and the
visit of the Haldanes and the quickening of religious life and doctrine
twenty years before that.... Neuchâtel has the reputation, I believe
justly, of being the most pious and gospel-loving city in
French-speaking Switzerland, in which the National Church and the Free
Church vie with each other (with little exception) as to which shall
give the clearest gospel. Yet beneath all those who attend church,
chapel, and school, there seems to have lain, in darkness and the shadow
of death, one of the most compact masses of unknown or untouched
ruffianism, that could be found anywhere. It is well that this be
brought to light. It is turning serious minds, in all the churches,
whatever may be their opinion about the ‘Army,’ towards the undiscovered
fields of mission labour that lie beneath their very feet.”
During the publication of this record, the “Bitter Cry of Outcast
London” has sounded through the length and breadth of our land, and we
are reminded that not from Switzerland alone, or from London alone,
there is arising an exceeding bitter cry, and that in the midst of the
greatest activity applied to outward reforms, in the matter of
dwellings, wages, education, &c., the “heart-leverage,” as it has been
called, is still the first and the only efficient remedy.
As watchmen on their watch-towers, as the “King’s remembrancers,” those
who have faith in God must cry night and day to Him that He will send
forth the Mighty Spirit to “breathe on these slain that they may live.”
THE END.
APPENDIX
I. The persecutions are continued in Switzerland, not now against the
English alone, but against the Swiss Salvationists. The events which
have transpired since the trial at Boudry would themselves till a small
volume, as a sequel to the above narrative; but it is necessary to close
the first act of this drama, already too lengthy perhaps, even in order
to resume with deliberation the study of the conflict which is going on,
and which will probably not be quickly ended. There has been a trial of
Salvationists at Rolle, and another at Morges, the details of which are
significant. The harmless and unoffending young wife of Capt. Becquet,
whom he had left behind him for a time in Switzerland, and who is not an
officer in the Salvation Army, was brutally attacked in the street of a
Swiss town, while passing with her baby in her arms. A friend,
witnessing this attack, came forward to defend her, and drive off her
assailants. He was arrested and made prisoner for a night, and fined
eighteen francs for doing so. Lieutenant Thonger is in prison, and
others are fined, or expelled.
(II.) I give here, in the original, the Balance Sheets of the
expenditure of the Salvation Army in Geneva and Neuchâtel, as mentioned
in the narrative:—
BILAN
Des recettes et dépenses de l’Armée du Salut à Genève, du 4 décembre
1882, jusqu’au 12 février 1883—jour de l’expulsion.
╒══════════════════════════╤════╤══╦══════════════════════════╤════╤══╗
│ RECETTES. │ │ ║ DÉPENSES. │ │ ║
│Collecte à la sortie des │ │ ║Frais de voyage │ │ ║
│ réunions │2677│45║ │ 796│80║
│[41]Dons divers │ │ ║[42]Frais d’entretien des │ │ ║
│ │4128│ ║ officiers │1178│30║
│Vente de publications (En │ │ ║[43]Loyers de salles et │ │ ║
│ Avant! brochures, etc.) │ │ ║ d’un bureau, concierges,│ │ ║
│ │ 831│59║ surveillance des portes │1002│95║
│ │ │ ║Affranchissem^t et │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ télégrammes │ 350│70║
│ │ │ ║Matériel pour ameublement │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ d’un bureau et │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ réparations faites à un │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ local de réunion │ 524│75║
│ │ │ ║Affiches, annonc. et frais│ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ d’imp │ 577│55║
│ │ │ ║Fournit. de bureau, port │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ de paquets et autres │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ frais de bureau │ 210│40║
│ │ │ ║Avancé au dépôt de Paris à│ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ cpte sur publications │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ reçues (En Avant! │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ brochures, etc.) │1052│ ║
│ │ │ ║Avancé au poste de │ │ ║
│ │ │ ║ Neuchâtel │ 170│ ║
│ │ │ ║ Solde│1773│59║
├──────────────────────────┼────┼──╫──────────────────────────┼────┼──╢
│ │7637│04║ │7637│04║
╘══════════════════════════╧════╧══╩══════════════════════════╧════╧══╝
J’ai vérifié le compte ci-dessus, et je l’ai trouvé d’accord avec les
pièces qui m’ont été produites.
D. LENOIR, agent de charge, Genève.
BILAN
Des recettes et dépenses de l’Armée du Salut à Neuchâtel, pour le
trimestre du 19 janvier au 19 avril 1883.
╒═════════════════════════════════╤════╤══╦═════════════════════════╤════╤══╕
│ RECETTES. │ │ ║ DÉPENSES. │ │ │
│Avancé par le poste de Genève │ │ ║Entretien des │ │ │
│ │ 170│——║ officiers {473 │ │ │
│Collecté à la porte de la salle │ │ ║Loyer de leurs │ │ │
│ │1739│97║ appartem_{t}^s {116, 20│ 589│20│
│Dons │ 965│——║ ————— ——│ │ │
│Vente de {Cantiques │ │ ║Loyer de la salle │ │ │
│ publications 306, 10│ │ ║ │1000│ │
│ „ {En Avant! 171 │ │ ║Dépenses de voyage │ 360│20│
│ {Brochures │ │ ║Bancs, estrades et │ │ │
│ „ │ │ ║ fortification de la │ │ │
│ 78 │ 555│10║ salle │ 932│80│
│ ———— ——│ │ ║Port de paquets │ 79│50│
│ │ │ ║Dépêches et timbres │ │ │
│ │ │ ║ postes │ 123│08│
│ │ │ ║Papeterie et imprimerie │ 95│30│
│ │ │ ║Gaz │ 36│ │
│ │ │ ║Instrument de musique │ 15│ │
│ │ │ ║Documents │ │ │
│ │ │ ║ d’établissements │ 20│ │
│ │ │ ║Avancé à Paris à compte │ │ │
│ │ │ ║ sur publication reçues │ 100│ │
│ │ │ ║ Solde│ 78│99│
│ │————│——║ │————│——│
│ │3430│07║ │3430│07│
│ │————│——║ │————│——│
│ │ │ ║ Vérifié et reconnu juste, le 20 │
│ │ │ ║ avril 1883. │
│ │ │ ║ (signé) R. CONVERT. │
└─────────────────────────────────┴────┴──╨─────────────────────────────────┘
(III.) The following is a statement which will sufficiently prove the
absurdity of the assertions which have appeared in the Press, that there
is a mystery about the disposal of the finances of the Salvation Army.
The balance-sheets may be seen at Gresham Buildings by those who desire
to see them.
“The income of the Salvation Army is arranged in two distinct
divisions:—
“1st.—There are the amounts sent direct to head-quarters by subscribers
and others.
“The particulars of this amount and of the expenditure of the same, with
summary of the trade accounts, are published in the annual
balance-sheet, which may be had on application to us, or to the
head-quarters of the Army.
“The books at head-quarters are not only audited by us, but are under
our direct and continuous control, so that we have the full knowledge of
all income and expenditure of every kind whatsoever relating to this
division.
“From none of these sources of income does the General or Mrs. Booth
draw any moneys for their own personal income, nor have they done so for
the fourteen years during which we have had the audit of the accounts.
“2nd.—The second division of income of the Army consists of the local
contributions.
“These amounts are raised and spent locally by the duly appointed
treasurers and secretaries of each separate corps for their own local
expenses, under the direction of the officers, they are examined by
local auditors, and are under the direct supervision of head-quarters.
“(Signed) JOSIAH BEDDOW & SONS, _Chartered Accountants_.
“2, Gresham Buildings, Basinghall Street, London, E.C.
_March 8, 1882._”
ENDNOTES
Footnote 1:
Lettre à Madame la Comtesse de Gasparin.
Footnote 2:
“Brief Sketch of the Evangelical Alliance.” By Mr. Arnold, Secretary
to the English Branch.
Footnote 3:
I do not intend to enter upon the great question of the public
ministry of women. It is too large a question for the compass of this
paper. Its solution is at hand. It is one of the questions of the day
which are pressing at our very door. I will only say here one word,
namely, that God has evidently, and in the face of the whole world,
signally blessed and honoured the public ministry of women in the
Gospel, and no doubt _He will know how to justify Himself in so
doing_.
Footnote 4:
I find no question so frequently asked in England in reference to this
matter as the following: “but have not the Salvation Army given ground
in Switzerland for the attacks made on them, by their processions,
obstructions in the streets, noisy music, &c.?” I think it well,
therefore, to further emphasize my reply to such enquiries by giving
the following testimony, in the original, of a gentleman, an
independent observer, in Geneva. He says, “Un des principaux reproches
qu’en Angleterre on adresse à l’Armée du Salut ce sont des processions
dans les rues, avec accompagnement de musique ou de chants. _Jamais_,
à Genève, l’Armée du Salut ne s’est montrée sur la voie publique; et,
en ce qui concernait, soit ses affiches, soit sa musique dans
l’interieur des locaux, elle s’est promptement conformée aux
observations qui lui ont été adressées à ce sujet.”
Footnote 5:
A Swiss lawyer writes:—“The words spoken by M. Héridier in the sitting
of the Grand Council on the 27th of January, in reply to a question
asked by Deputy Odier, were the expression of the most direct
encouragement to mob disturbances which has probably ever been heard
from the lips of a magistrate.”
Footnote 6:
Extract from the official reports of the sittings of the Grand Council
of Geneva.
Footnote 7:
See Article 50 of the Federal Code
Footnote 8:
Constitution de la Republique et Canton de Genève; Titre II., Article
4, page 4.
Footnote 9:
In the Appendix I give the balance-sheet for that three months, handed
to me by Miss Booth, who further gave me proofs that all the monies
collected in Switzerland were also _spent_ in Switzerland, with the
exception of 1,000 francs (£40) which was a gift from a gentleman
deeply interested in the work in France, and which he asked her to
dedicate specially to that work. I append also a statement concerning
the accounts in England which it would be well that readers should
mark.
Footnote 10:
M. Cuenod, the chief of the Cantonal Police of Geneva, has on several
occasions acted a very kind part towards the English officers of the
Salvation Army.
Footnote 11:
In its report of these events, the _Journal de Genève_ remarked: “As
the following day was Sunday, Mdlle. Charlesworth in true English
fashion believed and said that she could not go to the Police Court.
The police, _proud of the success of its little stratagem_, at once
seized upon this ground in order to expel her from the Canton at six
hours’ notice.”
Footnote 12:
The motto of the city of Geneva.
Footnote 13:
Colonel Clibborn, who was a member of the Society of Friends, speaks
thus further on these points:—“My attachment to our Society remains as
deep and strong as ever, while at the same time the conviction of
being in the place where the Lord would have me is equally strong. The
grand characteristics of early Quakerism will prove to be again the
power of this work upon the Continent—the belief in and the enjoyment
of a full salvation; the baptism of the Spirit; the ‘annointing’ of
that Spirit, the one qualification for service; opportunity for all to
‘prophesy’ in the Spirit; liberty for the exercise of all gifts; open
and avowed separation from the world, and confession of Christ; the
right of women to preach. Almost all the best known Evangelistic
movements on the Continent refuse women this right, or at most barely
tolerate women’s ministry; and here is just one of the great
advantages of the Army work. It seems to me strange that so many are
blind to the fact that any day a great war may break out, which will
claim all the French men evangelists. Our perfect liberty for all,
calls out all the gifts of all the converts at the earliest moment,
and thus raises a band of workers which no war can drain, and no
persecution exterminate. And now, when the cruel war laws of these
nations claim the bodies of all their young men from three to five of
their most vigorous years, and maintain the right to send nearly all
their able-bodied men to be food for powder, God is raising up a band
of women in our Army who can carry on the work without interruption,
come war or peace. Mrs. Booth’s pamphlet on Women’s Ministry is now
being sold all over the land, and has already produced a marked
effect. The prejudice against women’s ministry was one of the chief
sources of the ‘religious’ opposition which our work met with in
Switzerland.”
Footnote 14:
For readers who are not familiar with that great prophetical word, the
fulfilment of which is now beginning to be accomplished before our
eyes, I give it in full:—“And it shall come to pass afterward that I
will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your
young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out the Spirit.”—Joel II., 28, 29.
Footnote 15:
I have seen the originals of a considerable number of the testimonies
which are quoted in the course of this narrative. All are well
attested, and it has been carefully ascertained that those who uttered
them are standing firm in the faith, and in the new life.
Footnote 16:
It was a religious paper in Neuchâtel which published that the
Salvation Army work in Switzerland had cost 60,000 francs, making this
the basis for a long article accusing the Army of draining the
resources of other missions. This article furnished the Conseil d’Etat
of Neuchâtel with one of its pretexts for closing the hall, viz., that
the Salvationists were amassing a fortune. What was the _truth_? The
Swiss work had not cost even 10,000 francs.
Footnote 17:
Miss Booth had never made such a declaration; she admitted simply her
title of _Maréchale_.
Footnote 18:
This word _ressortissants_ which frequently occurs cannot easily be
translated into one word in English. It signifies the persons who have
recourse to the tribunals in either country.
Footnote 19:
This is not true, no clear reply was ever given to Miss Booth on this
subject.
Footnote 20:
The reader is now aware that no such law exists.
Footnote 21:
It is difficult to render in English the force of this word, the use
of which implies an accusation against the Salvation Army of making
capital out of the _credulity of weak-minded people_.
Footnote 22:
We have already seen that no such regulation exists. The following is
the text of the regulation made use of by M. Héridier in the expulsion
of Miss Booth:—
_Police Regulation upon House to House Collections, March 4th, 1879._
The Council of State, upon the proposition of the Department of
Justice and Police decrees:—
Article I. That no collection from house to house or in the streets
shall take place on behalf of a religious establishment, public,
charitable or beneficent institution, or other, &c., &c., nor to the
profit of a legal foundation, nor of any association whatever, without
the authorization of the Council of State....
Article II. Any private person desiring to make a collection from
house to house, in his personal interest, must previously obtain in
writing the authorization of the Department of Justice and Police.
Article VII. Anyone contravening this regulation will be punishable by
Police penalties indicated in the law 23rd October, 1876, &c.
Signed by the Chancellor,
ETIENNE PATRU.
Footnote 23:
A number of legal authorities are here quoted to substantiate this
statement. The same authorities have been studied and quoted by
persons who hold a view opposed to that of the Federal Council.
Footnote 24:
We have seen that only one such notice, and that a verbal one by the
police before whom she was called, was ever given to her.
Footnote 25:
The _Daily News_ remarked in reference to this, that “every English
Chaplain in Switzerland must now consider himself liable to be called
to account for any collection made in the churches among the Alps
frequented by English and American tourists.” But beyond this, the
inhabitants of every European country are now informed by the Swiss
Federal Council that they are not free, as they imagined themselves to
be, to ask for money in public meetings, for every kind of social,
political, or religious enterprise. They must henceforth understand
that the authorities of the State have “incontestibly” the right to
send a policeman to look into the money-box or purse of the
collectors, and count up the amount, limit, or prohibit, as the case
may be!
Footnote 26:
The following appears in the _Nouvelliste_, April, 1883:—“I read among
your correspondence from Neuchâtel, published yesterday, that the
whole population observes with pain the attitude taken by M. Aimé
Humbert in the matter of the Salvationists. This certainly is so false
and outrageous that I cannot let it pass without a protest. Certainly
it is not my mission to speak for other people, and I will not say, as
your correspondent does when speaking of himself alone, ‘the people of
Neuchâtel;’ but I will say, in my own name, that I am very happy to
see M. Aimé Humbert—one of the founders of our Republic, and one of
the defenders of liberty of conscience in our Canton—once more
supporting so good a cause, while the men now in power are
endeavouring to stifle religious manifestations which are distasteful
to them, after the manner of the ancient _régime_. M. Aimé Humbert is
not, moreover, the only one of our ancient magistrates who continues
to be the partizan of religious liberty. M. Eugene Borel, late
Councillor of State and Federal Councillor, expresses the same
sentiments. He recently wrote that he considered liberty of worship as
one of the most precious conquests of the Revolution of 1848, and that
there was no legal ground for depriving the Salvation Army of that
liberty.”
Footnote 27:
Persons meeting privately to take tea, _have_, then and at all times,
a right to the protection of the police against violent assaults from
persons in the streets.
Footnote 28:
A number of respectable citizens of Neuchâtel had voluntarily proposed
to act as special constables. There is no doubt that the result would
in that case have been very different to that which actually took
place. The proposal was rejected by the majority of the Council of
State, to whom it was not pleasing, and it was especially distasteful
to M. Cornaz, the head of the Department of Justice and Police.
Footnote 29:
The influence of the drinking habits of the people on the fierceness
of the opposition to Salutistes is illustrated by the following
facts:—
During the first week of the work at Neuchâtel two men were observed
in the meetings who manifested extreme opposition. One evening while
Mme. Chabal was speaking, one of them jumped up in a towering rage,
and, shaking his fist at her, cried, “You old viper! I shall make you
pay dearly for that!” and left the hall in a violent passion, still
shouting his threats in the street. This poor man lost his place as
bailiff through drunkenness a few days later, and on Sunday, 26th
August, he fell from the second story of a house in Beaume, and died
several hours after from the injuries received in his fall.
A workman who had distinguished himself by his furious attacks upon
the Salvationists and those who attended the meetings in the Mont
Blanc Hall, several weeks after, when ascending a flight of steep
stone steps in a state of intoxication, fell backwards, broke his
neck, and was taken up dead.
Footnote 30:
I am aware that other letters have been addressed by Mr. Charlesworth
to the public journals, which seem to invalidate the above. I do not
consider, however, that I am called upon to explain any apparent
inconsistencies in this matter which may have come before the public.
My duty is, in the course of this narrative, merely to present to the
reader the grounds which Miss Booth had for believing that her young
companion was in no way quitting the path of duty in remaining by her
side.
Footnote 31:
At the Annual Conference of the Federation held last year (1882) at
Neuchâtel, an old and respected citizen of Geneva spoke as follows of
the institution of legalised vice in Geneva:—
“Even under the rule of the most honest and estimable of men, M.
Cuenod, these evils go on, with all the horrible consequences which
are involved in the principles of legalized prostitution. Let me tell
you a fact which will show the truth of my assertions. M. Camperio,
head of the Department of Justice and Police, promised our Committee
to frame a Regulation expressly stipulating that every girl was free
to leave a _Maison Tolerée_ at any time. This Regulation was printed,
and a copy given to each keeper, with an order to placard it up in his
establishment. A fortnight after, a member of our Committee obtained
permission from M. Camperio to go into some of the houses with a
Police agent, in order to see with his own eyes that the order had
been carried out. He went into fourteen of them: not a single one of
them had executed the order of the Department of Police. I am wrong!
one of the keepers had placarded the new Regulation on the wall behind
a picture, by which it was completely hidden!
“During this month a Prussian woman wrote to me begging me to get her
daughter out of one of these houses. This was at last contrived. That
young girl said that she had frequently attempted to get out, but the
door was always fastened by a solid padlock. Another girl had
succeeded in escaping, by taking the impression of the lock with
orange peel, and thus getting a false key made through the help of a
visitor at the house. I have the conviction that a thorough search
would discover terrible things in Geneva precisely similar to those
discovered in Brussels.
“Let me speak to you now of a thing which has deeply wounded my heart
as a Swiss citizen. Recently a _fête_ took place at Geneva on the
occasion of a musical contest which attracted a vast number of
persons, foreigners, as well as Swiss, to our town. The town was
illuminated and decorated with flags. Know you, ladies and gentlemen,
what houses were decorated with the greatest taste and expense? which
were the most splendidly illuminated, so splendidly as to eclipse all
the others? They were two _Maisons de Tolérance_. Yes, throughout all
those days of festival we beheld floating from the windows of these
dens of infamy our Federal flag, the flags of our Cantons, the flags
of Vaud, Geneva, your flag of Neuchâtel, these emblems of our
Fatherland. The grand word LIBERTAS streamed along the front of these
houses, attracting the eyes of all passers by. I will suppose you
indifferent to the sufferings of the victims of vice; I will even
suppose you guilty of vice yourselves, but no citizen should endure
such things: You are Swiss citizens: respect the honour of your
national flag!”
At the period of which I am writing, M. Héridier fills the post of
Minister of Justice and Police, and consequently administers the
system of legalised vice in Geneva. M. Cuenod, assisted, perhaps, by
M. Camperio had endeavoured to introduce some _alleviations_ (as
indicated above) of the sufferings of the girls immured in these
houses. M. Héridier, on the contrary, is responsible, for having taken
a step backward; and, as Professor Hornung, a well-known jurist of
Geneva, has said, has placed the matter in worse position than before.
Is it to be wondered at that M. Héridier, with the consciousness of
having thereby increased the darkness of the dark lot of these slaves,
should have constantly avoided the sight of our girl evangelists,
sitting “behind a curtain” when they were questioned. Those eyes
directed to his would alone have said, without the aid of words, “Thou
art the man.”
Footnote 32:
_En Avant!_ published at 187, Quai Valmy, Paris.
Footnote 33:
In justice to the jailer it should be stated that clean straw and
better plates were provided for her.
Footnote 34:
Miss Booth was not aware in the least that this was an infringement of
the prison rules.
Footnote 35:
“A Corporation has a separate legal existence not dependent on the
legal position of its members. Every Corporation has a seal, and that
is its signature. For if there are several individuals in the
Corporation it boots not for each to sign their name; that is not
considered by the law as the signature of the Corporation. But when
the seal is affixed to a document no further writing is necessary, for
the Corporation is deemed to have signed.”
Footnote 36:
The Public Prosecutor.
Footnote 37:
In the interest of accuracy it is necessary to repeat again here that
the proceedings of the Salvation Army were conducted without any
bands, or processions, or demonstrations of any kind. When, therefore,
M. Cornaz speaks of “shows,” he _knows_ there were none. As to the
“jugglery,” its only existence is in M. Cornaz’s own mind; by the aid
of it he distorts the text of his country’s laws, his own utterances,
and the transparent speeches and actions of the members of the
Salvation Army.
Footnote 38:
While quoting the above the Geneva journals come to hand which give
the results of the elections for several of the Cantonal Governments.
M. Héridier has not been re-elected. It is reported that even his own
supporters have found some of his recent acts too authoritative, while
his illegalities and tyrannies have been pronounced by the
Constitutional party to be beyond endurance. This is followed by his
election by the Grand Council of Geneva as one of the two deputies
which the Canton returns to the Swiss _Conseil des Etats_ (a body
answering to the American Senate). This election is in direct defiance
of the previous popular vote, and proves that the governing persons
now in office are more in favour of arbitrary government than the
common people.
Footnote 39:
Since the return of M. Vernier to France this little church has been
without a pastor, “as sheep without a shepherd.” Its members had
recourse only the more directly to the “Shepherd and Bishop of their
souls,” and great blessing, it is said, has attended the gatherings
there. The Elders of the church and others lead the devotions, and
address the congregation. The Church is now crowded, as never before,
in a great measure by the very poor, the “outcast” population, whose
usual habit it is to abstain from church-going altogether. This fact
gives rise to ridicule on the one hand, to rejoicing and thankfulness
on the other; for these are the very persons whom it is acknowledged
are the hardest to reach. In a recent meeting of members of that
church a grave discussion took place on the question whether women
should be allowed to pray in the church in the evening or “after
meetings.” (It will be remembered that it was the prayer of a woman in
one such after meeting which was the occasion of the rupture in that
church, followed by the retirement of its pastor.) The question was
referred to M. Aimé Humbert, whose brief and pregnant answer seems a
prophesy of the future solution not of this alone, but of many other
questions—“_Where the_ SPIRIT OF THE LORD _is, there is_ LIBERTY.”
Footnote 40:
The drinking habits of the Swiss people extend unhappily much above
the poorer and working classes. The fact that the Canton de Vaud is
sometimes styled “_le pays des veuves_” (the country of widows), has a
melancholy significance. It is said that the evil institution
established by certain vineyard proprietors of the _Cave_, or cellar,
well fitted up, to which the master of the house retires with his male
guests after dinner to drink until a late hour, has found its way to
Berne, and that the degrading custom is even encouraged by some
official persons, as a help to the attainment of personal political
ends.
Footnote 41:
Pour ceux qui auraient ajouté foi au dire des journaux religieux, que
l’Armée aurait depuis son arrivée à Genève reçu et dépensé fr. 60,000,
il est bon de faire savoir que depuis l’expulsion les recettes ayant
atteint le chiffre de fr. 660, le total des recettes (ventes de
publications non comprises) s’élèvent à fr. 7370.
Footnote 42:
Deux des officiers sont absolument indépendants de l’Armée quant à
leurs frais personnels, les autres ne reçoivent aucun salaire, mais il
est pourvu à leur strict nécessaire.
Footnote 43:
Cette somme eût été plus forte, si quelques loyers de salles n’avaient
été acquittés directement par des amis de notre œuvre.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
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70 Seeing that there would be many Seeing that there would be many
attractions of a wordly attractions of a worldly
227 a few wooden chairs, two little a few wooden chairs, two little
beds with straw mattrasses beds with straw mattresses
262 afford to treat lighty. Let me afford to treat lightly. Let me
remind M. le Procureur-Général remind M. le Procureur-Général
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