The Countess von Rudolstadt

by George Sand

  “We also have faith in the convictions of the Count de Saint-Germain, whom the world considers an impostor or a madman. Even though his reminiscences of a past inaccessible to human memory are calmer, more precise, and even more inconceivable than Albert’s ecstasies, they are likewise endowed with a sincere, lucid quality which it is impossible for us to mock. We have among us many other fanatics, mystics, poets, men of the people, philosophers, artists, ardent members of sects gathered under the banners of various leaders: Boehmists, theosophists, Moravians, Herrnhuters, Quakers, even pantheists, Pythagoreans, Xerophagists, illuminati, Johannites, Knights Templar, millenarians, Joachimites, etc. All these ancient sects, even though less widespread now than when they first sprang up, are still in existence, and they haven’t even changed much. It is the nature of this age to reproduce at one and the same time every form of religious and philosophical thought that the genius of innovation or reform created one after the other in the past. So we recruit our disciples in these various groups without requiring that their precepts be absolutely identical, which would be impossible these days. All that we need to see in them is an ardor for destruction, and they are summoned into our ranks. The whole of our organizing skill consists in choosing constructors only from among those minds that are above factional bickering, whose passion for truth, thirst for justice, and instinct for moral beauty are stronger than family habits and sectarian rivalry. Moreover, it’s not as difficult as one thinks to make very different elements work together; these differences are more apparent than real. At bottom, all heretics (I use this word with respect) agree on the main point, which is to destroy intellectual and material tyranny or at least to protest it. The antagonisms that have thus far delayed the fusion of all this generous and useful resistance come from pride and jealousy, which are inherent vices in the human condition, the fatal and inescapable counterweight to all human progress. By dealing deftly with this touchiness and allowing each communion to keep its leaders, institutions, and rituals, one can constitute, if not a society, at least an army, and, as I’ve told you, we are still only an army marching toward the conquest of a promised land, an ideal society. Human nature has only come so far, and there are so many shades of character in people, so many different degrees in the conception of truth, such varied aspects, all ingenious manifestations of the rich nature that created human genius, that it is absolutely necessary to leave to each the conditions of his inner life and the elements of his force of action.

  “Our work is great, our task immense. It is not merely a universal empire that we want to found on a new order and equitable foundation; we want to reconstitute a religion. We feel certain, moreover, that one is impossible without the other. For that reason we have two modes of action. One is wholly material, undermining and bringing down the old world by criticism, analysis, even derision, Voltairianism and everything that goes along with it. The formidable alliance of all those with bold resolve and strong passions speeds us on in that direction. Our other mode of action is entirely spiritual; it’s a matter of building the religion of the future. The very finest models of intellect and virtue are assisting us in this unceasing labor of thought. The Invisibles function as a council that cannot meet publicly because of its persecution by the official powers, but it deliberates without pause and works with one inspiration all over the civilized world. Mysterious communications bring the grain to the threshing-floor as it ripens and sow it in the field of humanity after we’ve stripped it from the stalk. It is in this underground work that you can join. Once you’ve accepted this mission, we’ll tell you how.”

  “I accept,” said Consuelo in a firm voice, stretching forth her arm to signify her vow.

  “No hasty promises, woman of generous instincts and enterprising soul. You may not have all the virtues such a mission would require. You have traveled through the world and there you’ve already learned prudence, what is called savoir-vivre, discretion, decorum.”

  “I don’t flatter myself in that regard,” replied Consuelo smiling with modest pride.

  “Well then, you’ve learned at least to doubt, to argue, to scoff, to question.”

  “To doubt, perhaps. Rid me of doubt which was not part of my nature, which has made me suffer, and I shall bless you. Rid me, above all, of self-doubt, which would sap all my strength.”

  “We’ll rid you of doubt only by explaining our principles to you. As for giving you material assurances of our good faith and power, we won’t do anything more than we have done thus far. Let the services already rendered you suffice; we’ll always assist you when need be, but we’ll make you privy to the mysteries of our thoughts and actions only insofar as we’ve assigned you a role in them. You won’t know who we are. You’ll never see our faces. You’ll never know our names unless some great interest of the cause forces us to break the rule of anonymity and invisibility that we maintain with our disciples. Can you obey and blindly trust men who will never be anything more to you than abstract beings, living ideas, mysterious supporters, and advisers?”

  “Only vain curiosity could make me want to know you otherwise. I hope never to feel that childish impulse.”

  “It is not a matter of curiosity, but of mistrust. Yours would be justified according to the world’s logic and prudence. A man is responsible for his actions; his name acts as a guarantee or a warning; his reputation supports or undermines his deeds or designs. Have you considered that you’ll never be able to compare the conduct of anyone of us in particular with the precepts of the order? You’ll have to believe in us as though we were saints, not knowing if we’re not hypocrites. You may even have to witness injustice, perfidy, and apparent cruelty stemming from our decisions. You won’t be able to examine our methods anymore than our intentions. Will you have faith enough to walk on the edge of an abyss with your eyes closed?”

  “That was the way I practiced Catholicism as a child,” replied Consuelo after a moment’s reflection. “I opened my heart and surrendered my conscience to a priest whose face remained hidden behind the veil of the confessional, whose name and life remained unknown to me. In him I saw nothing but the mediator with God; the man was nothing to me. I was obeying Christ and didn’t bother about the minister. Do you find that so difficult?”

  “Now then raise your hand if you mean to carry on.”

  “Wait,” said Consuelo. “Your answer may decide the rest of my life, but will you allow me one question, for the first and last time?”

  “You see! Already you’re hesitating and seeking assurances beyond your spontaneous inspiration and the impetus of your heart toward the idea that we represent. Speak even so. The question you are eager to ask will enlighten us as to your frame of mind.”

  “Here it is. Has Albert been initiated into all your secrets?”

  “Yes.”

  “In all respects?”

  “In all respects.”

  “And he’s with you?”

  “Say rather that we’re with him. He is one of our council’s luminaries, the purest, perhaps the most divine.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place? I wouldn’t have hesitated for an instant. Lead me where you wish, dispose of my life. I am yours, and so I swear.”

  “You’re stretching out your hand! But on what do you swear?”

  “On Christ whose image I see here.”

  “Who is Christ?”

  “The mind of God, revealed to humanity.”

  “Is the whole mind of God in the letter of the Gospels?”

  “I don’t believe so, but I do believe it is all there in the spirit of the Gospels.”

  “We are satisfied with your answers and accept the vow you’ve just made. Now we’re going to instruct you in your duties to God and to us. First, learn the three words that are the whole secret of our mysteries, words that we reveal to many members only very slowly and cautiously. You don’t need a long apprenticeship, and yet you’ll have to do some thinking to understand their full significance. Liberty, frate
rnity, equality: this is the mysterious, deep formula of the work of the Invisibles.”

  “Is that really the whole mystery?”

  “It seems like no mystery to you, but look at the state of society, and you’ll see that, for men used to being ruled by despotism, inequality, antagonism, it takes a whole education, conversion, revelation to arrive at a clear understanding of the human possibility, social necessity, and moral obligation of this triple precept: liberty, equality, fraternity. The few right minds and pure hearts that naturally protest against tyranny’s injustice and disorder grasp the secret doctrine right away. They make rapid progress, for it’s only a matter of teaching them the methods of application that we’ve discovered. But for the great majority, prominent people, courtiers, and those with power, imagine all the care and address it requires to let them ponder the immortal work’s sacred formula. One has to use all kinds of symbols and circumlocutions and convince them that it is nothing more than an illusory liberty confined to the exercise of individual thought, a relative equality extended only to members of the association and to be enjoyed only in its secret, voluntary meetings; finally, a romantic fraternity agreed upon by a certain number of persons and limited to little favors, a few good works and mutual assistance. For these slaves to custom and prejudice, our mysteries are merely the statutes of heroic orders revived from ancient chivalry, doing no harm to the powers that be nor offering any remedy to the suffering of the peoples. For such individuals, there are only insignificant ranks, degrees of trivial knowledge, or banal antiquity, a series of initiations whose bizarre rites amuse their curiosity without enlightening their minds. They think they know everything and know nothing.”

  “What use are they?” asked Consuelo, who was listening carefully.

  “They shield the ones who understand and know so that these can freely carry out their work,” replied the initiator. “This will be explained to you. First, hear what we expect of you.

  “Europe (Germany and France mainly) is teeming with secret societies, underground laboratories where a great revolution, whose crater will be Germany and France, is being prepared. We have the key to all these associations, which is not known to the majority of their members, nor is it known from one association to the other, and we are striving to put them under our control. Even though our goal has not yet been achieved, we have managed to gain a foothold everywhere. The most prominent members are now ours, and they are giving us a hand. You’ll enter all these sacred sanctuaries, all these profane temples, for corruption and frivolity have also raised up their cities, and in some, vice and virtue share in the same work of destruction without evil understanding how it is collaborating with the good. Such is the rule of conspiracies. You’ll learn the secret of the Freemasons, a great brotherhood that, with the most sundry forms and diverse conceptions, works to organize the practice of equality and spread the notion. You’ll receive the degrees of all the rites, even though women are only admitted by virtue of adoption and not made privy to all the secrets of the doctrine. We’ll treat you like a man, giving you all the insignia, titles, and formulas necessary for the relations that we’ll have you set up with the lodges and the negotiations that you’ll be instructed to conduct with them. Your profession, itinerant life, and talents, the charm of your sex, youth, and beauty, your virtues and courage, integrity and discretion make you fit for this role and give us the necessary guarantees. Your past life, which we know down to the minutest detail, is for us sufficient assurance. You’ve voluntarily undergone more trials than Masonic mysteries could ever invent, and you’ve emerged from them stronger and more victorious than their disciples from the vain illusions designed to test their constancy. Moreover, the wife and student of Albert von Rudolstadt is our daughter, sister, and equal. Like Albert, we profess the divine equality of men and women. Yet we are forced to recognize that the education of women, their social situation, and habits have had unfortunate results for your sex, to wit, a dangerous flightiness and whimsical instincts, and for this reason we cannot fully put the precept of equality into practice. There are only a few women that we can trust, and some secrets we will impart to you alone.

  “The talisman of our investiture will also open to you the other secret societies of Europe so that, no matter where you are, you’ll find the opportunity to help us out and serve our cause. If necessary, you’ll even penetrate the impure Order of the Mops and the other mysterious dens of promiscuity and unbelief of this day and age, bringing in reforms and the notion of a purer, more extended fraternity. In the course of your mission you won’t be anymore sullied by the spectacle of the debauchery of the great than you were by the licentious displays in the wings of the theater. You’ll be a sister of charity to sick souls; we’ll also give you the means to destroy the associations that you may not be able to set right. You’ll work mainly on women; your genius and celebrity open palace doors; Trenck’s love and our protection have already given you the heart and secrets of an illustrious princess. You’ll be even closer to more powerful heads, and you’ll make them our auxiliaries. The ways of achieving that will be the object of special communications and training that you’ll receive here. In all the courts and cities of Europe where you may wish to go, we’ll find you friends, associates, brothers to assist you, mighty protectors to preserve you from the dangers of your undertaking. You’ll be entrusted with considerable sums of money to remedy the ills of our brothers and all the unfortunates who, wherever you are, appeal for our help with their signals of distress. Among the women you’ll set up new secret societies, founded by us on the principles of our own but appropriate, in their forms and composition, to the ways and customs of various countries and classes. As far as you are able, you’ll bring about the cordial and sincere reconciliation of the great lady and the bourgeoise, the affluent woman and the humble wage earner, the virtuous matron and the adventuresome artist. Tolerance and good works, this will be the version, toned down for society, of our true and austere formula: equality, fraternity. At first sight, as you can see, your mission will gladden your heart and bring honor to your life, yet it is not without danger. We are powerful, but betrayal can destroy our endeavors and enfold you in our disaster. It may well be that Spandau will not be the last of your prisons, nor the tantrums of Frederick II the only king’s wrath that you may ever encounter. You must be prepared for anything and already determined to suffer the martyrdom of persecution.”

  “I am,” replied Consuelo.

  “We are sure of it, and any fears that we may have for you do not concern weakness of character but despair. At this point we must warn you about the most loathsome aspect of your mission. The lowest ranks in secret societies, particularly in Freemasonry, are almost meaningless in our eyes, and we consider them useful only as tests of the postulants’ instincts and character. Most never get beyond these first degrees where, as I’ve already said, vain ceremonies amuse their frivolous curiosity. To the next ranks only promising candidates are admitted, and yet they are still kept at a distance from the goal while we examine and test them, fathom their souls, and prepare them for a fuller initiation or abandon them at an interpretation beyond which they cannot go without danger for the cause and for themselves. This is still only a nursery out of which we choose the strong seedlings destined for transplantation in the sacred forest. The important revelations are only for the highest ranks, and that is where you are starting out with us. But the role of master carries many duties, and there the charm of curiosity, the intoxication of mystery, the illusion of hope come to an end. It’s no longer a matter of learning, amid enthusiasm and emotion, the rule that turns a neophyte into an apostle, a novice into a priestess, but rather practicing it while teaching others and seeking to recruit, among the poor in heart and weak in spirit, Levites for the sanctuary. Then, poor Consuelo, you’ll come to know the bitterness of dashed illusions and the hard work of perseverance when you see, among all the many eager, curious braggarts pursuing the truth, how few serious, steady, and sincer
e minds there are, how few souls worthy of receiving the truth and capable of understanding it. Among hundreds of children all puffed up about using the formulas of equality and pretending to live by them, you’ll be hard put to find one man imbued with their significance and courageously interpreting them. You’ll have to speak in riddles to them and make a sorry game of deceiving them about the substance of the doctrine. This is the case of most of the princes enrolled under our banner. Adorned with vain Masonic titles which amuse their foolish pride, they only serve to ensure our freedom of movement and the tolerance of the police. Yet some of them are or were sincere. Frederick who is called the Great and could certainly make himself worthy of the name became a Freemason before he was king, and at that time liberty appealed to his heart and equality to his mind. Even so, during his initiation we had him surrounded by clever, prudent men who did not let him in on the secrets of the doctrine. Had that not been so, how we would have come to regret it! Now Frederick mistrusts, spies on, and persecutes another Masonic rite that has been established in Berlin in competition with the lodge over which he presides; he does the same with other secret societies of which his brother Prince Heinrich has eagerly taken charge. And yet Prince Heinrich, just like his sister the Abbess of Quedlinburg, has only been initiated to the second degree and will never go any higher. We know princes, Consuelo, and we know that one must never entirely rely on them or their courtiers. Frederick’s brother and sister suffer from his tyranny and curse it. They would gladly conspire against him, but to their own advantage. Despite their fine qualities we’ll never place the reins of our enterprise in their hands. They are in fact conspiring, but they don’t know to what dreadful designs they are lending their names, fortunes, and reputations. They imagine that they’re only working to curtail their master’s authority and paralyze the invasions of his ambition. In Princess Amalia’s zeal there is even a sort of republican enthusiasm, and in these times hers is not the only crowned head stirred by a certain dream of ancient grandeur and philosophical revolution. As children, all the little sovereigns of Germany learned Fénelon’s Telemachus by heart, and now they are living and breathing Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Helvetius; but they scarcely go beyond a certain ideal of aristocratic government, wisely balanced, in which they would be entitled to the highest positions. You can judge the logic and good faith of them all by the strange discrepancy that you saw in Frederick between rule and practice, words and deeds. They are all just copies, more or less understated, more or less overdrawn, of this model of the tyrant philosopher. But since they don’t have absolute power, their conduct is less shocking and may create illusions about how they would use such power. We won’t let ourselves be fooled; we let these jaded masters, these dangerous friends sit on the thrones of our symbolic temples. They believe they are the pontiffs; they imagine they hold the key to the sacred mysteries, just as in the past the head of the Holy Empire, speciously elected the secret tribunal’s grand master, convinced himself that he had at his command the terrifying army of Free-Judges, who were the masters of his power, his designs and his life. But while they think they are our generals, they act as our lieutenants, and until the fateful day marked in the book of destiny for their fall they will never know that they are helping us work against themselves.