Joseph Balsamo (3 page)
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great spirits had taught all that the angels know, in order to comprehend God. He was my tutor, my master, my friend a friend to be venerated indeed ; for his age was double that of most among you.”
His solemn tone, his majestic deportment, deeply impressed the assembly ; they seemed trembling with anxiety to hear more.
He continued :
” AVhen I reached my fifteenth year I was initiated into the mysteries of nature. I knew botany, not as one of your learned men who has acquired only the knowledge of the plants of his own corner of the world to me were known the sixty thousand families of plants of the whole earth. My master, pressing his hands on my forehead, made a ray of celestial light descend on my soul ; then could I perceive beneath the seas the wondrous vegetations which are tossed by the waves, in the giant branches of which are cradled monsters unknown to the eye of man.
” All tongues, living and dead, I knew. I could speak every language spoken from the Dardanelles to the Straits of Magellan. I could read the dark hieroglyphics on those granite books the pyramids. From Sanchoniathon to Socrates, from Moses to Jerome, from Zoroaster to Agrippa, all human knowledge was mine.
” Medicine I studied, not only in Hippocrates, in Galen, and in Averrhoes, but in that great teacher, Nature. I penetrated the secrets of the Copts and the Druses. I gathered up the seeds of destruction and of scarcity. When the simoom or the hurricane swept over my head, I threw to it one of those seeds which its breath bore on, carrying death or life to whomsoever, I had condemned or blessed.
” In the midst of these studies I reached my twentieth year. Then my master sought me one day in a grove, to which I had retired from the heat of the day. His face was at the same moment grave and smiling. He held a little vial in his hand. 1 ‘ Acharat said he, ‘ I have told thee that nothing is born, nothing dies in the world that the cradle and the coffin are twins that man wants only
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to see into past existences to be equal to the gods, and that when that power shall be acquired by him, he will be as immortal as they. Behold ! I have found the beverage which will dispel his darkness, thinking that 1 had found that which destroys death. Acharat, I drank of it yesterday ; see, the vial is not full drink thou the rest to-day.
” I had entire confidence in my venerable master, yet my hand trembled as it touched the vial which he offered me, as Adam’s might have done when Eve presented him with the apple.
” ‘ Drink,’ said he, smiling.
” I drank.
” Then he placed his hands on my head, as he always did when he would make light penetrate to my soul :
“‘Sleep 1’ said he.
” Immediately I slept, and I dreamed that I was lying on a pile of sandal-wood and aloes. An angel, passing by on the behests of the Highest from the east to the west, touched the pile with the tip of his wing; and it kindled into flame. Yet I, far from being afraid, far from dreading the fire, lay voluptuously in the midst of it, like the phenix, drawing in new life from the source of all life.
” Then my material frame vanished away ; my soul only remained. It preserved the form of my body, but transparent, impalpable, it was lighter than the atmosphere in which we live, and it rose above it. Then, like Pythagoras, who remembered that in a former state he had been at the siege of Troy, I remembered the past. I had experienced thirty-two existences, and I recalled them all. I saw ages pass before me like a train of aged men in procession. I beheld myself under the different names which I had borne from the day of my first birth to that of my last death. You know, brethren and it is an essential article of our faith that souls, those countless emanations of the Deity, fill the air, and are formed into numerous hierarchies, descending from the sublime to the base ; and the man who, at the moment of his birth, inhales one of those pre-existing souls, gives it up at his death, that it may enter on a new course of transformations.
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He said this in a tone so expressive of conviction, and his look had something so sublime, that the assembly interrupted him by a murmur of admiration.
“When I awoke,” continued the illuminated, “I felt that I was more than man that I was almost divine. Then I resolved to dedicate not only my present existence, but all my future ones, to the happiness of man.
” The next day, as if he had guessed my thoughts, Althotas said to me, ‘ My son, twenty years ago thy mothet expired in giving birth to thee. Since that time, invincible obstacles have prevented thy illustrious father revealing himself to thee. We shall travel ; we shall meet thy father ; he will embrace thee, but thou wilt not know him.’
” Thus in me, as in one of the elect, all was mysterious past, present, future.
” I bid adieu to the Mufti Salaaym, who blessed me and loaded me with presents, and we joined a caravan going to Suez.
st Pardon me, sirs, if I give way for a moment to emotion, as I recall that one day a venerable man embraced me ; a strange thrill ran through me as I felt his heart beat against mine.
” He was the Cheriffe of Mecca, a great and illustrious prince, who had seen a hundred battles, and at the raising of his hand three millions of men bent their heads before him. Althotas turned away to hido his feelings, perhaps not to betray a secret, and we continued our road.
” We went into the heart of Asia ; we ascended the Tigris ; we visited Palmyra, Damascus, Smyrna, Con-stantinople, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Moscow, Stock-holm, Petersburg, New York, Buenos Ayres, the Cape of Good Hope, and Aden ; then, being near the point at which we had set out, we proceeded into Abyssinia, descended the Nile, sailed to Rhodes, and lastly to Malta. Before landing, a vessel came out to meet us, bringing two knights of the order ; they saluted me and embraced Althotas, and conducted us in a sort of triumph to the palace of the grand master, Pinto.
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‘ ‘ Now, you will ask me, sirs, how it came that the Mussulman Acharat was received with honor by those who have vowed the extermination of the infidels. Althotas, a Catholic, and himself a Knight of Malta, had always spoken to me of one only rod omnipotent, universal, who, by the aid of angels, his ministers, made the world a harmonious whole, and to this whole he gave the great name of Cosmos. I was then not a Mussulman, but a theosophist.
” My journeyiugs ended ; but in truth all that I had seen had awakened in me no astonishment, because for me there was nothing new under the sun, and in my preceding thirty-two existences I had visited the cities before, through which I lately passed. All that struck me was some change in their inhabitants. Now I would hover over events and watch the progress of man. I saw that all minds tend onward, and that this tendency leads to liberty. I saw that prophets had been raised up from time to time to aid the wavering advances of the human race ; and that men, half blind from their cradle, make but one step towards the light in a century. Centuries are the days of nations.
” ‘ Then,’ said I to myself, ‘ so much has not been revealed to me that it should remain buried in my soul ; in vain does the mountain contain veins of gold, in vain does the ocean hide its pearls, for the persevering miner penetrates to the bowels of the mountains, the diver descends to the depths of the ocean, but better than the mountain or the ocean, let me be like the sun, shedding blessings on the whole earth.’
” You understand, then, that it is not to go through some masonic ceremonies I have come from the East. I have come to say to yon, brethren, take the wings and the eyes of the eagle ; rise above the world, and cast your eyes over its kingdoms.
” Nations form but one vast body. Men, though born at different periods, in different ranks, arrive all in turn at that goal to reach which they were created. They are continually advancing, though seemingly stationary, and if they appear to retreat a step from time to time, it is but to col-
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lect strength for a bound which shall carry them over some obstacle in their way.
” France is the advance guard of nations. Put a torch in her hand, and though it kindle a wide-spreading flame, it will be salutary, for it will enlighten the world.
” The representative of France is not here it may be that he has recoiled at the task imposed on him. Well, then, we must have a man who will not shrink from it I will go to France.’*
” You are in France,” said the president.
” Yes ; the most important post I take myself the most perilous work shall be mine.”
“You know what passes in France, then?” inquired the president.
The stranger smiled.
” I know, for I myself have prepared all. An old king, weak, vicious, yet not so old, not so weak, not so vicious as the monarchy which he represents, sits on the throne of France. He has but a few years to live. Events must be prepared to succeed his death. France is the keystone of the arch ; let but this stone be unfixed, and the monarchical edifice will fall. Aye, the day that Europe’s most arrogant sovereigns shall hear that there is no longer a king in France, bewildered, they will of themselves rush into the abyss left by the destruction of the throne of St. Louis !” v
Here, he on the right of the president spoke, and his German accent announced that he was a Swiss.
“Most venerated master, hast thou, then, calculated all ? ” he asked.
” All,” replied the great Copt.
” Your pardon if I say more ; but on our mountains, in our valleys, by our lakes, our words are free as the winds and the waters. Let me say, then, that a great event is on the eve of arriving, and that to it the French monarchy may owe its regeneration. I have seen, great master, a daughter of Maria Theresa traveling in state toward France, to unite the blood of seventeen emperors with that of the successor of the sixty-one kings of France, and the people rejoiced
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blindly, as they do when their chains are slackened, or when they bow beneath a gilded yoke. I would infer, then, that the crisis is not yet come.”
All turned to him who so calmly and boldly had spoken to their master.
” Speak on, brother ‘ said the great Copt ; “if thy ad-vice be good, it shall be followed. We are chosen of Heaven, and we may not sacrifice the interests of a world to wounded pride.”
The deputy from Switzerland continued, amidst deep silence :
” My studies have convinced me of one truth, that the physiognomy of men reveals to the eye which knows how to read it their virtues and their vices. “We may see a composed look or a smile, for these caused by muscular movements are in their power, but the great type of character is still imprinted legibly on the countenance, declaring what passes in the heart. The tiger can caress, can give a kindly look, but his low forehead, his projecting face, his great occiput, declare him tiger still. The dog growls, shows his teeth, but his honest eye, his intelligent face, declare him still the friend of man. God has imprinted on each creature’s face its name and nature. I have seen the young girl who is to reign in France ; on her forehead I read the pride, the courage, the tenderness of the Ger-man maiden. I have seen the young man who is to be her husband ; calmness, Christian meekness, and a high regard for the rights of others, characterize him. Now, France remembering no wrongs, and forgetting no benefits, since a Charlemagne, a Louis, and a Henry have been sufficient to preserve on the throne twenty base and cruel kings ; France who hopes on, despairs never, will she not adore a young, lovely, kindly queen, a patient, gentle, economical king ? and this, too, after the disastrous reign of Louis XV. after his hateful orgies, his mean revenges, his Pompadours and Dubarry ? Will not France bless her youthful sovereigns, who will bring to her as their dowry peace with Europe ? Marie Antoinette now crosses the frontier ; the altar and the nuptial bed are pre-22 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
pared at Versailles. Is this the time to begin in France your work of regeneration ? Pardon if I have dared to submit these thoughts to you whose wisdom is infallible!”
At these words, he whom the great Copt had addressed as the Apostle of Zurich, bowed as he received the applause of the assembly, and waited a reply.
He did not wait long.
” If you read physiognomy, illustrious brethren, I read the future. Marie Antoinette is proud ; she will interfere in the coming struggle, and will perish in it. Louis Augustus is mild : he will yield to it, and will perish with her, but each will fall through opposite defects of character. Now they esteem each other, but short will be their love ; in a year they will feel mutual contempt. Why, then, deliberate, brethren, to discover whence comes the light ? It is revealed to me. I come from the East, led, like the shepherds, by a star, which foretells a second regeneration of mankind. To-morrow I begin my work. Give me twenty years for it that will be enough, if we are united and firm.”
“Twenty years?” murmured several voices. “The time is long.”
The great Copt turned to those who thus betrayed impatience.
” Yes,” said he, ” it is long to those who think that a principle is destroyed as a man is killed with the dagger of Jacques Clement or the knife of Damiens. Fools ! the knife kills the man, but, like the priming-hook, it lops a branch that the other branches may take its place. In the stead of the murdered king rises up a Louis XIII. , a stupid tyrant ; a Louis XIV., a cunning despot ; a Louis XV., an idol whoso path is wet with tears of blood, like the monstrous deities of India, crushing with changeless smile women and children, who cast garlands before their chariot-wheels. And you think twenty years too long to efface the name of king from the hearts of thirty millions of men, who but lately offered to God their children’s lives to purchase that of Louis XV. ! And you think it an easy task to make
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France hate her lilies, which, bright as the stars of heaven, grateful as the odors of flowers, have borne light, charity, victory, to the ends of the world ! Try, try, brethren 1 I give you, not twenty years I give you a century. You, scattered, trembling, unknown each to the other, known only to me, who only can sum up your divided worth, and tell its value to me, who alone can unite you in one fraternal chain I tell you, philosophers, political economists, theorists, that in twenty years those thoughts which you whisper in your families, which you will write with uneasy eye in the solitude of your old somber towers, which you tell one another with the dagger in your hands, that you may strike the traitor who would repeat them in tones louder than your own I tell you that these thoughts shall be proclaimed aloud in the streets, printed in the open face of day, spread through Europe by peaceful emissaries, or by the bayonets of five hundred thousand soldiers, battling for liberty, with your principles inscribed on their standards. You, who tremble at the name of the Tower of London ; you, who shrink at that of the Inquisi-tion, hear me me, who am about to dare the Bastile ! I tell you that we shall see those dreaded prisons in ruins, and your wives and children shall dance on their ashes. But that cannot be until, not the monarch, but the monarchy, is dead until religious domination is despised until social inferiority is extinguished until aristocratic castes and unjust division of lands are no more. I ask twenty years to destroy an old world, and make a new one twenty years twenty seconds of eternity and you say it is too long ! “