Memoirs of a Physician (38 page)

* Lilia pedibus destrue.

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The brothers looked at one another in mute surprise. The language of the fierce old sage, his prescience which had acquired an imposing authority from many striking examples, contributed in no small degree to cast a gloom over the meeting at which Balsamo presided. Balsamo himself, who placed implicit faith in Swedenborg’s second sight, could not resist the saddening influence which this letter had on the assembly.

” Brothers,” said he, ” the inspired prophet is rarely deceived. Watch, then, as he bids you. You know now, as I do, that the struggle commences. Let us not be conquered by these ridiculous enemies, whose power we sap in the utmost security. You must not forget that they have mercenary swords at their command. .It is a powerful’ weapon in this world, among those who do not see beyond the limits of our terrestrial life. Brothers, let us distrust these hired traitors ‘

” These fears seem to me puerile,” said a voice ; ” we gather strength daily, and we are directed by brilliant genius and powerful hands ‘

Balsamo bowed his thanks for the flattering eulogy.

” Yes, but as our illustrious president has said, treason creeps everywhere,” replied a brother, who was no other than the surgeon Marat, promoted, notwithstanding his youth, to a superior grade, in virtue of which he now sat for the first time on a consulting committee. ” Remember, brothers, that by doubling the bait, you make a more important capture. If Monsieur de Sartines, with a bag of crown-pieces, can purchase the revelations of one of our obscurer brothers, the minister, with a million, or with holding out the hope of advancement, may buy over one of our superiors. Now, with us, the obscurer brother knows nothing. At the most, he is cognizant of the names of some of his colleagues, and these names signify nothing. Ours is an excellent constitution, but it is an eminently aristocratic one ; the inferiors know nothing, can do nothing. They are called together to say or to hear trifles, and yet they contribute their time and their money to increase the solidity of our edifice. Reflect that the workman brings only the stone and the mortar, but without

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stone and mortar could you build the house? Now, the workman receives a very small salary, but I consider him equal to the architect who plans, creates, and superintends the whole work; and I consider him equal because he is a man, and in the eyes of a philosopher one man is worth as much as another, seeing that he bears his misfortunes and his fate equally, and, because, even more than another man, he is exposed to the fall of a stone or the breaking of a scaffold.”

” I must interrupt you, brother,” said Balsamo. ” You diverge from the question which alone ought to occupy our thoughts. Your failing, brother, is that you are over-zealous, and apt to generalize discussions. Our business on the present occasion is not to decide whether our constitution be good or bad, but to uphold the integrity of that constitution in all its strength. If I wished, however, to discuss the point with you, I would answer, no; the instrument which receives the impulse is not equal to the architect ; the brain is not the equal of the arm.”

” Suppose Monsieur de Sartines should seize one of our least important brethren,” cried Marat, warmly, ” would he not send him to rot in the Bastile equally with you or me? “

” Granted ; but the misfortune in that case is for the individual only, not for the order, which is with us the all-important point. If, on the contrary, the chief were imprisoned, the whole conspiracy is at an end. When the general is absent, the army loses the battle. Therefore, brother, watch over the safety of the chiefs.”

” Yes, but let them in return watch over ours.”

” That is their duty.”

” And let their faults be doubly punished.”

” Again, brother, you wander from the constitution of the order. Have you forgotten that the oath which binds all the members of the association is the same, and threatens all with the same punishment ? ” ” The great ones always escape.”

” That is not the opinion of the great themselves, brother. Listen to the conclusion of the letter which one

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of the greatest among us, our prophet Swedenborg, has written. This is what he adds:

” ‘ The blow will come from one of the mighty ones, one of the mightiest of the order; or if it comes not directly from him, the fault will be traceable to him. Eemember that fire and water may be accomplices; one gives light, the other revelation.

” ‘ Watch, brothers, over all and over each, watch ! ‘ ‘

” Then,” said Marat, seizing upon, those points in Balsamo’s speech and Swedenborg’s letter which suited his purpose, ” let us repeat the oath which binds us together, and let us pledge ourselves to maintain it in its utmost vigor, whosoever he may be who shall betray us, or be the cause of our betrayal.”

Balsamo paused for a moment, and then rising from his seat, he pronounced the consecrated words, with which our readers are already acquainted, in a slow, solemn, terrible voice.

” In the name of the crucified Son, I swear to break all the bonds of nature which unite me to father, mother, brother, sister, wife, relation, friend, mistress, king, benefactor, and to any being whatsoever to whom I have promised faith, obedience, gratitude, or service !

” I swear to reveal to the chief, whom I acknowledge according to the statutes of the order, all that I have seen or done, read or guessed, and even to search out and penetrate that which may not of itself be openly present to my eyes.

” I will honor poison, steel, and fire as a means of ridding the world, by death or idiocy, of the enemies of truth and liberty.

” I subscribe to the law of silence. I consent to die, as if struck by lightning, on the day when I shall have* merited this punishment, and I await without murmuring the knife which will reach me in whatsoever part of the world I may be.”

Then, the seven men who composed this solemn assembly repeated the oath, word for word, standing, and with uncovered heads.

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When the words of the oath had been repeated by all :

” We are now guaranteed against treachery,” said Balsamo ; ” let us no longer mingle extraneous matter with our discussion. I have to make my report to the committee of the principal events of the year.

” My summary of the affairs of France may have interest for enlightened and zealous minds like yours ; I will commence with it.

” France is situated in the center of Europe, as the heart in the center of the body; it lives and radiates life. It is in its palpitations that we must look for the cause of all the disorder in the general organization.

” I came to France, therefore, and approached Paris as a physician approaches the heart. I listened, I felt, I experimented. When I entered it a year ago, the monarchy harassed it; to-day, vices kill it. I required to hasten the effect of these fatal debauches, and therefore I assisted them.

” An obstacle was in my way ; this obstacle was a man, not only the first, but the most powerful man in the state, next to the king.

” He was gifted with some of those qualities which please other men. He was too proud, it is true, but his pride was applied to his works. He knew how to lighten the hardships of the people by making them believe and even feel sometimes that they were a portion of the state; and by sometimes consulting them on their grievances, he raised a standard around which the mass will always rally the spirit of nationality.

” He hated the English, the natural enemies of the French; he hated the favorite, the natural enemy of the working classes. Xow, if this man had been a usurper if he had been one of us if he would have trodden in our path, acted for our ends, I would have assisted him, I would have kept him in power, I would have upheld him by the resources I am able to create for my proteges ; for, instead of patching up decayed royalty, he would have assisted us in overthrowing it on the appointed day. But he belonged to the aristocracy ; he was born with a feeling of respect for that first rank, to which he could not aspire,

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for the monarchy, which he dared not attack; he served royalty whilj despising the king; he did worse he acted as a shield to this royalty against which our blows were directed. The parliament and the people, full of respect for this living dyke which opposed itself to any encroachment on the royal prerogative, limited themselves to a moderate resistance, certain as they were of having in him a powerful assistant when the moment should arrive.

” I understood the position I undertook Monsieur de Choiseul’ s fall.

” This laborious task, at which for ten years so much hatred and interest had labored in vain, I commenced and terminated in a few months, by means which it would be useless to reveal to you. By a secret which constitutes ono of my powers a power the greater because it will remain eternally hidden from the eyes of all, and will manifest itself only by its effects I overthrew and banished Monsieur de Choiseul, and attached to his overthrow a long train of regret, disappointment, lamentation, and anger.

” You see now that my labor bears its fruit ; all France asks for Choiseul, and rises to demand him back, as orphans turn to heaven when God has taken away their earthly parents.

” The parliament employs the only right it possesses inertia; it has ceased to act. In a well-organized body, as a state of the first rank ought to be, the paralysis of any essential organ is fatal. Now, the parliament in the social is what the stomach is in the human body. When the parliament ceases to act, the people the intestines of the state can work no longer; and, consequently, must cease to pay, and the gold that is, the blood will be wanting.

” There will be a struggle, no doubt ; but who can com-bat against the people ? Not the army that daughter of the people which eats the bread of the laborer and drinks the wine of the vine-grower. There remain then the king’s household, the privileged classes, the guards,- the Swiss, the musketeers in all, scarce five or six thousand men. What can this handful of pygmies do when the nation will rise like a giant?”

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” Let them rise, then let them rise ! ” cried several voices.

” Yes, yes ! to the work ! ” exclaimed Haral .

” Young man, I have not yet consulted you,” said Balsamo, coldly. ” This sedition of the masses ‘ continued he, ” this revolt of the weak, becomo strong by their num-ber, against the powerful, single-handed less thoughtful, less ripened, less experienced mindi would stimulate immediately, and would succeed with a facility which terrifies me; but I have reflected and studied I have mixed with the people, and, under their dress, with their perseverance, even their coarseness, I have viewed them so closely, that I have madf myself, as it were, one of themselves. I know them now; I cannot be deceived in them. They are strong, but ignorant; irritable, but not revengeful. In a word, they are not yet ripe for sedition such as I mean and wish for. They want the instruction which will make them see events in the double light of example and utilijy; they want the memory of their past experience.

” They resemble those daring young men whom I ha re seen in Germany, at the public festivals, eagerly climb a vessel’s mast, at the top of which were hung a ham and a silver cup. They started at first burning with eagerness and mounted with surprising rapidity; but when they had almost reached the goal when they had only to extend the arm to seize their prize their strength abandoned them, and they slipped to the bottom amid the hootings of the crowd.

” The first time it happened as I told you ; the second time they husbanded their strength and their breath ; but taking more time, they failed by their slowness, as they had before failed from too great haste. At last the third time they took a middle course between precipitation and delay, and this time they succeeded. This is the plan I propose: efforts never-ceasing efforts which gradually approach the goal, until the day arrives when infallible success will crown our attempts.”

Balsamo ceased, and looked around upon his audience,

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among whom the passions of youth and inexperience were boiling over.

” Speak, brother ‘ said he to Marat, who was more agitated than the others.

” I will be brief ‘ said he. ” Efforts soothe the people when they do not discourage them. Efforts ! that is the theory of Monsieur Kousseau, citizen of Geneva, a great poet, but a slow and timid genius a useless citizen, whom Plato would have driven from his republic. Wait ! Ever wait ! Since the emancipation of the commons, since the revolt of the mailotins for seven centuries we have waited ! Count the generations which have died in the meantime, and then dare to pronounce the fatal word, wait! as your motto of the future. Monsieur Eousseau speaks to us of opposition, as it was practised in the reign of the Grand Monarque as Moliere practised it in his comedies, Bolieu in his satires, and Lafontaine in his fables whispering in the ear of marchionesses, and prostrating it at the feet of kings. Poor and feeble opposition, which has not advanced the cause of humanity one jot. Lisping children recite these sudden theories without understanding them, and go to sleep while they recite. Eabelais was also a politician, in your sense of the word; but at such politics people laugh, and correct nothing. Have you seen one single abuse redressed for the last three hundred years? Enough of poets and theoreticians. Let us have deeds, not words. We have given France up to the care of physicians for three hundred years, and it is time now that surgery should enter in its turn, scalpel and saw in hand. Society is gangrened; let us stop the gangrene with the steel. He may wait, who rises from his table to recline upon a couch of roses, from which the ruffled leaves are blown by the breath of his slaves ; for the satisfied stomach exhales grateful vapors which mount into the brain, and recreate and vivify it. But hunger, misery, despair, are not satiated nor consoled with verses, with sentences and fables. They cry out loudly in their sufferings ; deaf indeed must he be who does not hear their lamenta-tions accursed he who does not reply to them ! A revolt, even should it be crushed, will enlighten the minds more