THE CONSPIRATORS ACCOUNT.
On being left together, the six masked men and the chairman whispered
among themselves.
"Let all come in," said Cagliostro, for he was the Master; "I am ready
to make the report I promised."
The door was instantly opened: the members of the league walked in; to
crowd the hall once more.
Hardly was the door closed behind the last before the Master said
holding up his hand quickly like one who knew the value of time, and
wished not to lose a second:
"Brothers, there may be some here who were present at a meeting held
just twenty years ago, a couple of miles from Danenfels, in a cavern of
Thunder Mountain, five miles from the Rhine; if so, let the venerable
upholders of the Great Cause which we have embraced, signify the same by
holding up the hand, saying: 'I was there!'"
Five or six hands were held above the throng and as many voices cried:
"I was there."
"So far good," continued the speaker; "the others are in the Temple
above, or scattered over the earth, working at the common and holy work,
for it is that of all mankind. Twenty years ago, this work which we have
pursued in its different periods was scarce commenced. The light was
at its dawning and the steadiest eyes beheld the future only through
the cloud which none but the eyes of the chosen could pierce. At that
meeting, I explained by what miracle death did not exist for me, it
being merely for man forgetfulness of the past, or rather how, during
twenty centuries, I had dwelt in succeeding bodies for my immortal soul.
Slowly I saw peoples pass from slavery to serfdom, from serfdom to the
state of those aspirations for freedom which precede it. Like the stars
of the night hinting what a sun can be, we have seen the republics try
their rules, at Genoa, Venice, Switzerland; but this is not what we
needed.
"A great country was wanted to give the impetus, a wheel in which should
be cogged all the others, a planet which should illumine the world."
A cheering murmur ran through the audience and Cagliostro proceeded with
an inspired air:
"Heaven indicated to me, France. Indeed, having tried all systems, she
appeared likely to suit our purpose, and we decided on her being first
freed. But look back on France twenty years ago, and grant that it was
great boldness or rather sublime faith to undertake such a task. In
Louis XV.'s hands so weakly, it was still the realm of Louis XIV., an
aristocratic kingdom, where the nobles had all the rights and the rich
all the privileges. At the head was a man who represented at once the
lowest and the loftiest, the grandest and the paltriest, heaven and the
masses. With a word he could make you wealthy or a beggar, happy or
miserable, free or captive, keep you living or send you to death.
"He had three grandsons, young princes called to succeed him. Chance had
it that he whom nature designated was also the choice of the people, if
the people had any choice at the epoch. He was accounted kind, just,
honest, learned, almost a lover of wisdom. In order to quench the wars
which the fatal succession of Charles II. enkindled, the daughter of
Maria Theresa was chosen for his wife: the two nations were to be
indissolubly united which are the counterbalances west and east of
Europe, France and Austria. So calculated Maria Theresa the foremost
politician of Europe.
"It was at this period, none the less, when France, supported on
Austria, Spain and Italy, was to enter on a new and desired reign that
we determined--not that she should be the chief of kingdoms but that the
French should be the first people free.
"It was demanded who would be the new Theseus to rush into the den of
this Minotaur, thread the innumerable turnings of the maze while guided
by the light of Truth, and face the royal monster. I replied it should
be me. Some eager spirits, uneasy characters, wanted to know how long
a time it would take to accomplish the first period of my enterprise,
divided into three portions, and I required twenty years. They cried out
against that. Can you understand this? man had been serf or slave for
twenty centuries, and he mocked at me because I wanted twenty years to
make him free!"
He looked upon the meeting, where his last words had provoked ironical
smiles.
"In short, I obtained the twenty years. I gave my brothers the famous
device: 'Lilia Pedibus Destrue--the Lilies shall be trodden underfoot!'
and I set to work, urging all to do likewise. I entered France under
arches of triumph; the rose and the laurel made the road from Strasburg
to Paris one trellis garlanded with flowers. Everybody was shouting:
'Long live the Dauphiness! our future Queen!' Now, far from me to take
credit to myself for the initiative or the merit of events; the Builder
had planned all this and He laid each stone well and truly. He allowed
this humble mason who officiates in this fane to see the Hand divinely
wielding the Line and the Level and, praise unto Him! I have done some
levelling: the rocks have been removed off the way, the bridge has been
thrown over the flood, and the gulfs have been filled up so that the
car has rolled smoothly. List brothers, to what has been performed in a
score of years.
"Parliaments broken up: Louis XV., called once the Well-Beloved, dies
amid general scorn! The Queen, after seven years, unfruitful wedlock,
gives birth to children whose paternity is contested, so that she is
defamed as mother of the Crown Prince, and dishonored as a woman in the
case of the Diamond Necklace.
"The new King consecrated under the name of Louis the Desired, impotent
in politics as in love, tries one utopia after another, until he reaches
national bankruptcy, and has all kinds of ministers down to a Calonne.
The Assembly of Worthies decrees the States General Congress, which
appointed by universal suffrage, declares itself the National Assembly.
The clergy and nobility are overcome by the other classes; the Bastile
is stormed and the foreign troops driven out of the capital; the night
of Aug. 4th, 1789, shows the aristocracy that they are reduced to
nothing; on the 5th and 6th October, the King and Queen are shown that
royalty is nothing; on the 14th of July, 1790, the unity of France is
shown to the world.
"The princes are deprived of popularity by their absconding; the
King's brother loses his hold by the Favras conspiracy showing that he
casts off his friends to save his neck. Lastly, the Constitution is
sworn unto, on the Altar of the Country; the Speaker of the House of
Representatives sits on a chair on the level with the King's; it is the
Law and the Nation sitting side by side; attentive Europe leans towards
us, silently watching--all who do not applaud are trembling. Now, is not
France the cornerstone on which Free Europe shall be laid, the wheel
which turns all the machine, the sun which shall illuminate the Old
World?"
"Yea, yea, yea!" shouted all voices.
"But, brothers," continued the magician, "do you believe the work is
so far advanced that we may leave it to get on by itself? Although the
Constitution has been sworn to, can we trust to the royal vow?"
"Nay, nay, nay," cried every voice.
"Then we begin the second stage of the revolutionary work," pursued
Cagliostro. "As your eyes see, I perceive with delight that the
Federation of 1790 is not the goal but a halting-place: after the
repose the court will recommence the task of counter-revolution: let
us also gird up our loins and start afresh. No doubt for timid hearts
there will be hours of weakening and of distrust; often the beam from
the All-seeing Eye will seem to be eclipsed--the Hand that beckons us
will cease to be seen. More than once during the second period, the
cause will appear injured, even lost, by some unforeseen and fortuitous
accident; all will seem to show that we are wrong; circumstances
will look as if unfavorable; our enemies will have some triumph, our
fellow-citizens will be ungrateful. After many real fatigues and
apparent uselessness, many will ask themselves if they have not gone
astray on the bad path.
"No, brothers, no; I tell you at this hour for the words to ring
everlastingly in your ears, in victory as a blast of trumpets, in
defeat as the rallying cry--No! leading races have their providential
mission which must be unerringly accomplished. The Arch-Designer laid
down the road and found it true and straight; His mysterious goal
cannot be revealed until it is attained in its full splendor; the cloud
may obscure it and we think it gone; an idea may recoil but, like the
old-time knights, it is but to set the lance in rest and rush forward to
hurl over the dragon.
"Brothers, brothers, our goal is the bonfire on the high mount, believed
extinct because the ridge concealed it as we sank in the vale: then the
weaklings muttered as they halted and whined: 'We have no beacon--we are
blundering in the dark: let us stay where we are; what is the good of
getting lost?' But the strong hearts keep right on confidently smiling,
and soon will the light on the height reappear, albeit it may disappear
again, but each time it is brighter and clearer because it is more near!
"Thus will it be with the chosen band who, struggling, pressing on,
persevering and above all believing in the Republic to be, arrive
at the foot of the lighthouse of which the radiance will join that
cast across the Atlantic by the Republic which we have also helped to
throw off the tyrant's yoke. Let us swear, brothers, for ourselves
and our descendants, since the eternal idea and principle serves many
a generation, never to stop until we establish on this temple of the
Architect the holy device of which we have conquered one portion:
'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.'"
The speech was hailed with uproarious approbation.
"But do not confine it to France solely: inscribe it on the banner of
mankind as the whole world's motto. And now, brothers, go out upon your
task, which is great, so great that, through whatever vale of tears and
of the shadow of death you must pass, your descendants will envy the
holy errand you shall have accomplished, and like the crusaders who
became more and more numerous and eager as their foregoers were slain,
they march over the road whitened by the bones of their fathers. Be of
good cheer, apostles; courage, pilgrims of freedom; courage, soldiers,
Apostles, converts! pilgrims, march on! soldiers, fight!"
Cagliostro stopped, but that would have happened from the applause.
Three times the cheering rose and was extinguished in the gloomy vaults
like an earthquake's rumbling. Then the six masked men bowed to him one
after another, kissed his hand and retired. Each of the brothers, bowing
unto the platform where the new Peter the Hermit preached the renewal of
the political crusade, passed out, repeating the motto:
"We shall Trample the Lilies under."
As the last went forth, the lamps were extinguished.
Alone remained the Arch-Revolutionist, buried in the bowels of the
earth, lost in silence and darkness like those divinities of the Indies,
into whose mysteries he asserted himself to have been initiated two
thousand years before.